Year of Firsts
by Elise Marie
Summary: Multi-Chapter follow up fic to my "First" series. The war is over and the trio have to get on with their lives no matter how difficult. Whether this means Hogwarts, training or helping out family they have to do it. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Year of Firsts

**Book: **Post Deathly Hallows, pre Epilogue

**Spoilers: **Deathly Hallows

**Warnings: **Adult conversations, maybe some language.

**Rating: **M/PG-16. Slight adult-ish theme.

**Category:** Ron and Hermione romance, Harry and Hermione friendship and Harry and Ginny romance.

**Summary: **The war is over and the trio have to get on with their lives no matter how hard it may be. Whether this means Hogwarts, training or helping out family they have to do it, but they'll always still have each other at the end of the day.

**Disclaimer: All characters and the universe they exist in belong to J.K Rowling and her publishers. This piece of fan-fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was exchanged. No copyright infringement was intended and the original characters, situations and plots are property of the author. This piece of fan-fiction must not be archived without the author's consent.**

**Author's Notes: **This is the conclusion to my story of "Firsts". Number 11 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone, although some little comments may confuse you. Intended to be read as canon as to what happens in the year after the Final Battle. This is a little different for me, in that it is a multi-chapter fic (never done before) and chapters will be named (definitely never done by me). It's mainly Hermione with some Ron and then the others brought in it too. Later chapters get a bit more "adult" in discussions.

For the record, I am using the post books canon as: Harry becomes an Auror, Hermione works for the Ministry, Ron has either worked or does work as an Auror or in WWW and Neville becomes a Hogwarts Professor. To this end, I see that both Hermione and Neville need to finish their qualifications to become a government official and teacher respectively. As there is some confusion as to what Ron does (Auror or WWW), I have tried to allow both avenues to be possible. Any other queries regarding my canon, please contact me!

**X X X X X X X**

**Year of Firsts**

**X X X X X X X**

**Chapter One: Goodbye Kisses**

It was the first of September and it felt just like any other year, well at times it did for Hermione Granger. She was standing on platform nine and three quarters at King's Cross station with a collection of people she had spent a great deal amount of her past seven years of life. Standing just off to her left were Mr and Mrs Weasley, both of whom were fussing over their youngest and only daughter Ginny. Next to Ginny, who was blushing slightly at the fuss, stood Harry Potter who could not help himself from smiling at his girlfriend's blushing. Hermione was standing just a few meters away, still able to hear their conversation when the platform was quiet enough. She was listing in her head the similarities and differences this year's departure had on others'. First similarity was who she was at the station with and that she had seen many of her fellow school friends walk past her. The first big difference was that as she was standing on the platform surrounded by such familiar faces, Ronald Weasley was holding her hand.

"Hermione," he said and she turned to look at him. Immediately the rest of the train station disappeared and all that existed was Ron. The last time that they had both been here seemed like a lifetime ago. It was before all of the death, before the torture, the hunt, the fighting and before they were more than friends. The thought of how different her relationship with Ron was now to then caused Hermione to smile and her heart to warm. She had felt something for her friend for so long and denied it for so long, that now all she felt was happiness. "You okay?"

She smiled and nodded. "I'm a bit nervous, I think."

"About?" he asked, moving her around so that he could take hold of both of her hands.

"We've been away from Hogwarts for a whole year and so much will have changed because of the Battle. What if I can't remember how to study? Or if the curriculum's changed? What if there's loads that I need to catch up on?" Now that she had started voicing her fears more and more were coming to mind, making her start to panic. She could feel her breathing and heart rate change and she began to panic that she was going to hyperventilate.

"Hey," Ron commanded, pulling her closer. "You are going to be fine," he told her. She looked him in the eye and smiled at the reassuring look on his face. She remembered all the times when he had reassured her or spoke of his faith in her and it did alleviate some of her fears. "You couldn't forget how to study or be behind if you tried. And anyway," he added, "I thought that was why everyone was repeating last year?"

"It is," she agreed.

"So at least you'll be in the same dorm with Parvati and Lavender, not a different year and you'll have classes with all the same people."

Hermione's smile left her face and she shook her head. He had just pointed out exactly what her biggest fear was concerning returning to Hogwarts. "No, I won't."

He looked at her with a questioning look upon his face and Hermione considered how dumb her boyfriend could sometimes be. He could be made of equal measures of dumbness and loveliness. "What do you mean?"

"You and Harry won't be there." She paused for a second and then decided to continue, speaking quickly so that he could not interrupt her. This was the last opportunity that she had to tell him everything she had been thinking the past few days. It had kept her awake at night and prevented her from falling asleep quite as quickly after her middle of the night nightmares. "And that alone is going to be so very odd. You two are my best friends and Hogwarts without you both is just going to seem so wrong and I really wish that you were both going to be there. I know I haven't said anything about it beforehand and that's because I know that you both have to do what you have to do, but it doesn't change the fact that I need to tell you that I want you both there. I'm going to miss you both so much, especially you and I'm not sure that I can sleep through the night without you. What if I still have the nightmares? Who's going to calm me down and hold me? What am I going to do without my hugs and kisses from you." She took a quick breath and then quietly added. "I like our hugs and kisses."

Without warning, Ron released Hermione's hands and kissed her, his hands cupping her face. Hermione's fears melted away as she wrapped her arms around him and he mirrored her actions, both joining together in a hug. She really would miss this. He eventually released her, keeping his face close to hers. "I'm going to miss you, too, but we all have to do what we need to do. I don't want you to go back there on your own. I never want you to be on your own, but George and the shop need me."

"I know," she nodded. "And you don't need Hogwarts."

"I do need you though," he whispered and kissed her again. "I'm scared about being away from you and Hogwarts, but it might be good for us all to be apart. After the past year," he added.

Hermione knew that he was right. They had spent the majority of the past year constantly living together. The three of them had gone from Hogwarts, to the Burrow, to Grimmauld Place, to a tent and back to the Burrow via Shell Cottage. Whilst they had essentially lived together and spent a lot of time together during their six shared years at Hogwarts, they had never lived as close to each other as they had in the tent and Grimmauld Place. Distantly, Hermione was aware of Mrs Weasley hurrying them all along to get on the train.

Very reluctantly, Hermione pulled away from Ron and glanced at the train which was still sitting and waiting for everyone to board. Tears came to her eyes and she forbade them to spill. She was not going to board the train crying, or let Ron see her cry. There was no way that she was going to sit on the train, sobbing and crying just because her boyfriend was not going with her. Just because she knew that was not the full reason would not stop other people thinking it was. "I better get on the train." Her voice came out a whisper and she turned back to Ron.

He nodded to her. "I can still change my mind and come with you."

She smiled and blinked away some tears. "No. No you can't." She hugged him again, trying to remember every detail of how it felt to be in his arms. She inhaled his scent and fear ripped through her again that she was about to be on her own.

"Let me know," he said into her hair, "as soon as you know when the first Hogsmeade weekend is. I will be there."

She nodded against him. "I will," she promised. "I have to-"

"You better-" They both smiled and she stepped away from him and followed Ginny to the nearest door. It took all of her strength to not hold his hand as she walked those few steps. She knew that she had to start getting used to him not being around all of the time. Ginny and Harry hugged one last time whilst Hermione said goodbye and hugged Ron's parents. She would miss them both, too. She had spent a good few weeks at her own home over the summer with Ron visiting them a lot, but his parents were very different to her own.

Mr and Mrs Weasley stepped back to look at the two girls they were sending onto the train and smiled at them in pride. "Have a good term," Mr Weasley said.

"See you both at Christmas," Mrs Weasley added.

Hermione nodded, seeing out the corner of her eye Ginny boarding the train. She smiled a goodbye to Harry and then took one last look at Ron. Hermione could feel the tears start to build again so she turned and walked onto the train. The first carriage she came to had Ginny, Luna and Neville already sitting in it and she knew that she did not even need to ask permission to join them. She sat down next to Neville and the window and looked out onto the platform. Luna and Neville were already deep in conversation, but Ginny was staring out of the window too. Hermione could see that Mr Weasley had a comforting, protective arm over his wife's shoulder because she was crying. This was the first time that the youngest Weasley had left her parents' side since the Battle was over and Mrs Weasley was very protective of her children.

Trying to pay attention to the conversation between Neville and Luna, Hermione forced herself to stop watching out of the window. She could not bear to watch Ron and Harry get smaller and smaller, fading into the distance as the train pulled away.

"So, yeah," Neville was saying, "I'm Head Boy. My Gran's pretty chuffed about it, but then she's been chuffed with me ever since the Battle."

"That's because you were very brave," Luna replied causing Neville to blush.

"Congratulations, Neville," Hermione said her voice not quivering much to her own surprise.

"Thanks. I kind of think that if Harry or Ron had been returning, I wouldn't be, but, well."

"Oh, no," Hermione objected. "The way that you stood up to Voldemort and everything that you must have done last year, you were probably Professor McGonagall's first choice."

"So, are you Head Girl?" Luna asked, but before Hermione could answer, everyone turned in the direction of the main corridor as there was a commotion going on.

"Move out of my bloody way," Ron said as he appeared in the doorway. He smiled at Hermione and the tears that she had banished returned to her eyes.

"Ron, what are you..?" She stood up to question what he was doing on-board the train as it was soon going to depart. Hermione feared that he was indeed trying to return for his final year with her.

He hugged her and cut off her question. "I'm not coming with you," he reassured her without even hearing the question. He kissed her quickly and then looked her in the eye. "It's only a year, Hermione and I'll see you as much as possible during that year," he promised. "I love you."

A few tears spilled out onto her cheeks and Ron gently wiped them away. "I love you, too," she whispered with a large watery smile on her face. "Now, get off this thing before you end up in detention."

He laughed at her, kissed her one last time and then fought his way back through the few children who were still trying to get on-board the train. Hermione reclaimed her seat and within seconds the train started moving. This time she kept her eyes on Ron as she moved faster and faster away from him. She sniffed away any remaining tears and tried to pay attention to the conversation between Neville and Luna. All she could think was that Harry and Ron should be in the carriage with them, all of them discussing their summer holidays. They were not and for the first time, Hermione was truly apprehensive about returning to Hogwarts.

"At least you get to see him at Hogsmeade weekends," Ginny said. Hermione turned to her friend with a questioning look on her face. "Harry doesn't know if he'll get any leave during training."

Somewhere deep down Hermione knew that her friend was hurting in a similar way to her, but Hermione's pain was different. Her entire life seemed to be different now and she really did not want it to be. She knew that Ginny did not mean anything by her comment, but in her current emotional state, Hermione did not care.

"That is really not the point," she declared and stood up. Without a word to the other three, Hermione left their carriage and made her way to the prefect carriage at the front of the train. After a few steps she remembered that she had been made a prefect with Ron and she felt lost all over again.


	2. Love Letters Home

___**Chapter**_** Two: Love Letters Home **

Hermione turned to the Fat Lady and spoke the new password, eagerly wanting to get into her dorm. She had just sat through the Sorting Hat and some of the Welcoming Feast, but her attention had been elsewhere. Hermione had vaguely heard the Sorting Hat's new song and had noticed that it was different to normal, but she had not had the inclination to actually pay attention. In other years, the Sorting Hat had changed its song to try and unite the school houses, to give them warning concerning the coming year and Hermione did not doubt that it had something of great relevance to say to all of the school pupils returning or starting at Hogwarts today. Hermione really did not care all that much. She was not even aware of who the new Gryffindor students were and she should have at least paid attention to the names of the new first years as she was Head Girl and had responsibilities. Her knowledge of names was already a year out of date given the fact that she was not at school the year before.

All that Hermione wanted to do was curl up in her comfortable bed, which had lain untouched for over a year, and try to sleep as the emotion of the day was getting a bit too much for her. Unfortunately the Fat Lady had other ideas.

"Leaving the Feast early?" she enquired. "Why's that?"

"I'm just really tired," Hermione half lied. She had been one of the first to get into the hall and had watched pretty much everyone else enter the room. Hermione had been apprehensive about entering the hall after what had occurred there just a few months previously, but it had been rebuilt and did not bear any scars of the events. She had watched as Malfoy, Parkinson and Goyle had entered the room and part of Hermione had wanted to run from the hall to never return. It was something she had not actively thought about; participating in lessons with those three individuals. Or how much being back here overwhelmed her. She had missed Hogwarts a lot more than she had ever realised.

"Really?" the Fat Lady questioned her clearly not believing her despite that fact that it was half true. "But don't you want to enjoy the Feast; you are Head Girl after all. Everyone must be full of questions for you."

It occurred to Hermione that no one had questioned her at all about her year away or the hunt she had been on. No one had even questioned her about Harry Potter. "Umm," she began to lie, "that would be why I am so tired. May I enter, please?"

"Of course," the Fat Lady relented, granting Hermione access to the Gryffindor common room and dormitories. 

Hermione climbed through the portrait hole and stopped dead once she was fully through. The sight in front of her took her breath away. A large smile spread across her face as she took in the sight of the Gryffindor common room. It was such a familiar room and Hermione realised that she had actually missed it over the past year. There had been moments during the hunt where she would have given anything for the comforting fire that the common room housed, but this realisation was different. It was not the comforting, safe features that she had missed rather it was somewhere she called home that she had missed on their months long quest. It was a similar feeling to when she had stepped into the Burrow for the first time after the battle. She felt like she was at home and it helped ease the terrors that plagued her mind from all of the horrors she had seen. Hermione sometimes felt disrespectful that she did not quite have the same loving feeling when it came to her parents' home, but she could not help how she felt.

Everything in the common room was exactly how it always was. Hermione had tried to commit the room to memory after Dumbledore's funeral to allow herself to remember every single facet of the room. She had no idea why she had started to doubt that it would still look the same, but she was incredibly pleased that it was exactly how it always was and she assumed some of that was down to the House-elves. She had only seen the exterior of the castle, the Great Hall and some corridors before getting to the common room, but nothing that she had seen looked that different. There were no physical battle scars remaining on her beloved school. Professor McGonagall and whoever else had helped magically rebuild the school had done an excellent job. As long as, Hermione thought, those whose lives had been sacrificed where still remembered.

As her eyes moved around the room, they fell upon the access point to the girls' dormitory and Hermione practically ran like a giddy girl up the stone staircase. Once at the top, she turned to the same door as she had every year on the first day of the year. This time it read "Seventh Years", presumably for the second year in a row. She was really relishing in the familiarity of everything around her and she hoped that it continued despite Harry and Ron not being with her. She shook her head, banishing the thoughts of her two friends from her mind and opened the door so that the happy familiarity would overcome her again. Within seconds, unhappy thoughts had vanished from her mind and her eyes had taken everything in before she ran and jumped onto her bed. The pillows, mattress and duvet were possibly more comfortable than she could remember and at that moment Hermione felt as if she could just fall asleep despite the early hour. She knew that she could not though because she had a responsibility to Ron.

Sitting up on the bed, Hermione reached over to her trunk which had been brought up and placed at the foot of her bed. She reached inside and took out some paper and a quill, starting writing almost straight away. Even though it had only been a few hours since she had seen Ron there was already a lot to tell him.

_Ron,  
I am sitting in the girls' dorm on my bed and it is all exactly how it always has been. I cannot believe that the last time I was in here was right after Dumbledore's funeral, it all seems like so long ago. The Feast is still going on, but I wanted to see how everything looked so left it early. I'm Head Girl so I have a few perks of the job. The Hall has been rebuilt along with a lot of the other parts of the Castle which were damaged. I haven't been to see all of them yet, but a good job was done. It still felt odd walking into the Hall and seeing everyone else file in. Especially when the new first years entered and the Sorting Hat sung his song. It was almost surreal that all of these people were gathered in a room where so much death occurred. And that was after a lot more people gasped at the Thestrals pulling our carriages._

_I try to not dwell on those things and those memories, but I think for a while I will still see those things when I enter certain rooms. It will just go in the list of other major changes about the place, I guess. At the top of that list will be the fact that neither you nor Harry are here. I think that will be a big change for a lot of students, but we do have a double entry of first years to make up for it.  
I'll write more to you tomorrow when I attend lessons and let you know what it's like to never have to worry over having Snape as a teacher.  
Missing you already,  
Hermione._

There was more that she wanted to share with him, but she did not want to overload him on the first day or spell out quite how much she missed him and Harry already. If she were to start listing all of the differences it could make him feel guilty and there was no way that she could allow that to happen. Hermione made a promise to herself that no matter how much she missed her friends and Ron specifically, no matter how upset it might make her, she would not tell him. Knowing Ron as she did, Hermione was sure that he would come running to her aid, ignoring the fact that his brother needed him. George needed Ron a lot more than she did, her pain and misery from missing her friends paled into comparison with George's heartache. Hermione had to try and do this on her own. Maybe it would do her some good to be on her own and maybe she could become known as a person in her own right rather than the brainy friend of Harry Potter. Or maybe that was something she had started to tell herself to try and ignore the pain.

Addressing the letter, Hermione stood up and went to head towards the Owlery so that hopefully Ron would receive the letter at breakfast. She paused next to her bed as she saw Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway, now the Headmistress.

"Good evening, Miss Granger," the headmistress greeted.

Hermione smiled and said, "Good evening. Is something wrong, Professor?" She was confused as to why the professor had come to her dormitory as it had not happened often in the six years Hermione had been a student. Hermione had not seen McGonagall since the Final Battle until today in the Great Hall and was pleased that the professor once again looked her tidy, neat self.

"Not at all, Miss Granger," McGonagall said, slowly walking into the room. "I was wondering why you left the Feast early. I hope there is nothing wrong with our Head Girl."

"No," Hermione shook her head as thoughts of responsibilities she may have shirked came into her mind. "I made sure that all of the Prefects were aware of their duties before I left. Has something gone wrong?" It was as she feared, only a few hours into her life back at Hogwarts and she had forgotten something because of her year away. Hermione knew that she should have somehow opted to be home-schooled rather than return to a life she no longer fitted.

"No, everything ran very smoothly," McGonagall answered and relief flooded through Hermione. "Miss Granger, I picked you to be Head Girl and I do not doubt my decision. Do you?"

"What?" Hermione shook her head, despite her mind's protests. "No, I..." She paused, unable to think of an answer.

"Professor Dumbledore once told me that he thought you to be the best candidate for your year, but I would like you to know that the choices of prefects and Head Boy and Head Girl this year were my decisions. I have faith in you Miss Granger."

"Thank you," Hermione whispered at the praise.

"You still left the Feast early and this concerns me, after all the last time that you, along with most of the student body were here it was during the Battle. Everyone must have strong thoughts about that."

"Yes," Hermione said absently.

"And, of course, for you it will all be slightly different." Hermione looked at her headmistress in curiosity. "Not being present last year means that not only do you have more first years to get to know, but that you went through a rather unique experience." McGonagall paused, but Hermione kept her head low and allowed her to continue. "A lot of the student body suffered last year, but they suffered as a united force. You were not a part of that and I would like you to know that, as my choice for Head Girl, anytime that you wish to discuss personal matters along with school matters, my door is open to you. That said," McGonagall continued before Hermione could utter her thanks, "everyone needs to adapt and readjust to this school." McGonagall began pacing across the room. "The repeating first years have only known the schooling of Snape and the Carrows. A lot of non-pure blood students will feel second-rate and certain pure-blood students may make more of that than usual. I wish to hold a large assembly on Tuesday afternoon, a rather different one to normal and I need your help Miss Granger."

"Anything, Professor."

"It is to be an assembly where Hogwarts must highlight the unity of the Magical Community and how nothing that has happened will be forgotten, but that forgiveness can occur. I would like you, as Head Girl, to make a speech to the student body and of course help with all of the preparations."

"Of course." 

"Along with Mr Longbottom and the seventh year prefects from the other houses, you will all help me tomorrow. You may be eager to get back to lessons, but they will have to be delayed a further two days. Now," McGonagall instructed, "hurry along and post that Owl and meet me and the other prefects in my office."

Hermione nodded mutely as the headmistress left the dormitory. She could not post the letter straight away so she quickly opened it and scribbled an end note quickly detailing what McGonagall had just asked of her to Ron and then resealed it. Maybe her final school year would not be quite so bad if she had Professor McGonagall behind her and she would be able to organise a whole school assembly. Hermione was thrilled with the prospect, if only she had homework to be doing too. But she could go to the library for the first time in over a year to read up on public speaking.

It was with that thought that it dawned on her; Hermione was going to have to make a speech to the entire student body.


	3. Home Without The Heart

**Chapter Three: Home Without The Heart**

Ron Weasley quietly entered the kitchen of the Burrow, trying not to alert anyone to his presence. He had to remain quiet and stealth-like so that no one noticed him. Ron paused by the kitchen table realising that it was only his mum in the room and that not so much of a fuss would be made.

"Morning, mum," he greeted as he pulled out a chair and sat down at the table.

"Ron," she smiled back at him placing a breakfast in front of him on the table. "You're up early," she commented.

"Couldn't sleep," Ron explained briefly with a shrug of his shoulders as if it were not a problem.

"Of course you couldn't." His mum put her hand on his shoulder and hugged him to her slightly. Ron hugged her back before starting on his breakfast. He knew that he was up before anyone else in the house and that it was a very rare event. Ron was also very thankful that it was only his mum up and that she would not make a big deal out of it. He had barely had any sleep at all the night before and yet he did not feel very tired. After Hermione had boarded the Hogwarts Express, he had made his way over to Diagon Alley to spend a few hours helping George. He felt as if George did not want him there so for the time being he was going to work nine 'til five and then return to the Burrow for dinner and to sleep. No one liked that fact that he left George every night, but there was no way that he could impose himself in the shop's flat seeing as there were only two bedrooms and one was Fred's. He could still not bring himself to say 'had been' and Ron knew that if he was having difficulty accepting the loss of his brother then George must be faring even worse. It was all that he could do though, trying to be there for his brother and hoping that he made some difference.

He had come home from the shop and sat down for a family meal, except the only family at the meal was himself and his parents. With George back at Diagon Alley, Bill back at Shell Cottage, Charlie back in Romania and Percy back in London, Ron was the only Weasley child at home. In some ways he should have relished the chance to be alone and the centre of their attention. As there was only a year between himself and Ginny, Ron had not been the youngest in the family for long and had always seen himself as one of many rather than someone unique and identifiable. The others each had something to be known as with their parents. Percy was the Golden boy – Head Boy and prefect – whilst Charlie was the outdoorsy son who worked with dangerous dragons. Bill was the son who everyone loved and Ginny was the only daughter. That left Ron and his twin brothers who always managed to have the attention. Ron had realised a lot during the hunt for Horcruxes, however, and as such he believed that was why he was not relishing his alone time with his parents. He was enjoying his time at home after the past year of living in tents and sleeping on sofas. Now he was guaranteed hot, home-cooked meals and comfort and security.

He could have had all of those things at Hogwarts, but he believed he had out-grown school both literally and figuratively. Ron was not using his elder brother as an excuse because he needed to be there for when George needed him, but after a year of fighting for his life Ron could not see himself being a school-child again. He had no idea how Hermione was able to do it as she had gone through just as much as he had, if not more given her torture at the hands of Bellatrix. Ron knew how much her N.E. meant to her and that obtaining them were the only way to get a job which she found worthy. That future was not for Ron though and he had always known that. The closest he had come to wanting to work for the Ministry was to be an Auror, which was a career he was still thinking about. Kingsley had already accepted Harry on Auror training given his experience and the offer was also open to Ron. Ron was no longer sure what path in life he wanted to take so he was going to use the next year to try and decide.

"Good morning!" Arthur Weasley said very brightly as he entered the room and placed a kiss on Molly's cheek. "Thank you for the breakfast." Arthur sat down opposite Ron and began eating his breakfast as Molly sat down next to her husband to eat her own meal. "It's nice to not have to wait in line," he remarked.

Molly sighed and Ron feared that she was going to burst into tears. "It's not the same cooking for only the two of you."

"It's alright, mum," Ron said with some bacon in his mouth. "I'll bring George for tea tonight and you can always invite Percy 'round." Ron knew that neither brother would deny their mother.

She smiled at this and Ron continued eating his breakfast in silence, pleased that he had cheered his mum up. It was in those small moments that he knew she loved him just as much as she loved her much desired daughter. Arthur quickly finished his breakfast and said goodbye to his wife and son before using the Floo network to get to work. He was working slightly longer hours at the Ministry now as there was still work to be done under the new Minister. Kingsley had declared that the Ministry was going to change and he needed people like Harry and the Weasleys to help him do so. Ron knew that if Hermione asked Kingsley for a job without having her N.E., he would take her without batting an eyelid, but Hermione would never do that because she needed to know that she got things in her life due to hard work and not from fighting on the right side. Once his father was gone, Ron moved to help his mum wash up the breakfast stuff. He dried as she washed.

"So," she asked, "how much sleep did you get?"

His mum knew him too well. "Couldn't get to sleep and then I woke up really early, but I don't feel that tired."

"No offence meant, but maybe it's because you didn't have Hermione crying and having nightmares."

"She doesn't have them as often anymore."

"I know," she agreed.

"I'm worried that she might have them at Hogwarts." It was not the only thing that worried him about her being at Hogwarts without him, but for all of his over-protectiveness, Ron knew that Hermione could handle herself. He had wondered if Malfoy or any of his little pure-blood gang were back at Hogwarts and what they might be saying or doing to Hermione. Every time those thoughts entered his mind, Ron reminded himself of when Hermione slapped Malfoy in third year and he knew that she could look after herself.

"She does have friends there, Ron. I know that the three of you have an incredible friendship, but Hermione has other friends who can help her with any problems or nightmares that she may have. She has Ginny after all, and Luna and Neville."

"As long as Neville doesn't go into her dorm when she has a nightmare," he joked and they both smiled. "I'm just not used to being apart from her. Or Harry," he added.

"And I think it could be a good thing for the three of you to have some time apart, to grow up separately and see who you can each be without the others. You're all still so young but have seen so much and done so much."

Ron nodded as his mum passed him the final plate to dry. Just as he finished an owl flew onto the open window sill and dropped a letter. Ron reached for it and saw his name and address on the front and he knew that it was Hermione's hand-writing. Without saying anything about the letter, his mum spoke to him, "See, that'll be Hermione telling you how fine she's doing."

Ron smiled as he opened the letter, a thought at the back of his mind that he hoped she was not coping completely fine without him. He wanted her to miss him. He quickly read the letter to himself and then turned to his mum. "She says she's got to help organise a school assembly for Tuesday. She'll love that. Organising people and bossing them around. She'll be in her element."

"Oh, that reminds me," his mum said, "we've all been invited to it – the whole family. George is closing the shop for the day so that you two can both go. You'll be able to see all the effort that she's put into it."

"Cool," Ron said, kissing his mum on the cheek before leaving the kitchen. He had twenty minutes or so before he had to Apparate to the shop, which was plenty of time to write her a quick note back. He went upstairs and went into the room he had slept in the night before. It was Percy's room and after dinner last night Ron had chosen that one to sleep in rather than his own. His bedroom still had two beds in it from when the family had prepared for Harry to share with him. Ever since the Final Battle, Harry had shared with Ginny and Hermione had shared with Ron. His parents had never said anything and Ron had never questioned them, but he knew that he did not want to sleep in that room without Hermione. It no longer felt like his bedroom. It was now their bedroom so he had taken over Percy's. He threw the duvet over the bed, making it to the extent he would normally make a bed and then he climbed up more stairs to get to his childhood bedroom. Ron had decided not to sleep in his own room anymore, but he had not moved things out of it yet and he probably would not.

He walked into his room and he sat down on Harry's once upon a time bed, staring for a few moments at his own. The pillow was still all dented and crushed from where his and Hermione's heads had been the morning before. He had not liked trying to sleep without her or waking up alone. Ron almost felt like he was in limbo – he did not belong at school, but he did not belong at home alone. He wished that he could jump ahead in time to where they were all adults and his decisions were made so that he was working in whatever profession and living his life. Still holding the letter in his hand, Ron read it again. He had worried what it would be like for her, stepping back into the place of so much death. He wondered how she was really coping and if she had told him the truth about how things were. She had not even started classes yet and she had so much to say. Ron could only imagine how much detail he would have in a few weeks' time. Hermione would probably tell him so much about her classes that Ron would be able to pass his N.E. by reciting her letters.

Ron got out some of his own paper and a quill and went to start writing but then stopped himself. It was not that he had writer's block or that he did not know what to write, it had dawned on him that they had normally sent letters to each other over the summer holidays when they did not see each other. Those had been letters from one friend to another and not from boyfriend to girlfriend. He noted that she had not signed the letter with '_love from_' despite the fact that they had said they loved each other. He questioned how he should therefore end the letter he had not even started. Could it be possible that she doubted her feelings now that she was back in the school where they had always been friends? He shook his head and started writing, trying not to think about things in too much detail.

_To Hermione,_

_I received your letter this morning just after breakfast and I don't have too long before I have to leave for work. I'll send it with Pigwidgeon and he can stay with you for a few days until you write back. You must have lots to do with planning the big assembly. I'm sure that it will all be amazing and I wish I could be there to see it._

_I went to the shop yesterday and did a few hours' work. It was fun, not how like I thought work would be or how the past year has been. Got home and still couldn't sleep though. Ended up in Percy's bed where I slept fine. I'm sure things will get better for both of us. Once you get back into spending all your free time in the library, you'll stop seeing all the bad memories around the castle._

_I miss you, too._

_Ron._

_P.S. When's Hogsmeade weekend?_

Ron knew that he was going to see her in just a few days, but he did not want her to know that he would be there. He knew how she panicked and worried that she would fail at something so to give her the added pressure of knowing that he would be there might make her worse. Ron felt confused because he did not want to sound too needy in the letter, or reveal quite how much he missed her or worried about her, but he did not want the letter to sound like the ones they used to write when they were just friends. He paused as he was about to tie it to Pigwidgeon's leg and stopped himself. Unrolling the letter, he added in a bit of a messy squiggle near his _'I miss you, too'_ 'I love you' and then attached it to his owl. Carrying Pigwidgeon over to the window, Ron brought the owl up to his face. "Get this safely to Hermione," he commanded, "it's my first love letter to her."


	4. Those Left Behind

**Chapter Four: Those Left Behind**

Hermione was truly in her element because in all of her time at Hogwarts she had never had the opportunity to help organise this large a group of people. Neville had been assigned the invites and she had given him half of the school prefects to do so, whilst she had kept the remaining prefects to help organise the Hall. She and Neville had then spent the evening each writing their speeches, checking them with each other to ensure that they would not repeat. Hermione was very pleased with her speech and happy with what she was going to say. Her speech was going to be first with Neville, Professor McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt then giving speeches. Hermione had not known that Kingsley would be there, but she thought it was a very good idea that he would be. A lot of students at Hogwarts had been hurt because of Ministry actions under the control of Voldemort and they needed reassuring that the Ministry and the Magical Community would now be different. It did increase her level of nervousness, however, knowing that if she were to ever decide on a career within the Ministry, Kingsley would hold her future in his hands. She had once told Scrimgeour that she would never consider a career within the Ministry, but with Kingsley in charge the Ministry was a completely different beast and Hermione knew that she could achieve a lot for S.P.E.W there. It was definitely now an option, but she had still decided to decline his immediate job offer as she preferred to obtain her N.E.W.T.s and keep her options open.

Hermione had been standing in the trophy room for just over ten minutes, waiting for her name to be called to stand where Dumbledore had often stood to speak to the student body. She was rehearsing her speech over and over in her mind, mentally checking that she knew exactly what she was going to say. She was going to tell the students that, as Head Girl she stood for uniting them as one student body and that anything that had occurred in the past year was indeed in the past. Hermione was going to reassure them that no matter what their "_blood status_" was, every student was equal within the student body and that blood purity no longer mattered. She was sure that the older students were fully aware of the politics behind the past year, but the younger students may not be and it was those younger students who may be expecting Hogwarts to be how it had been under the Carrows. For her own sake, Hermione was going to reaffirm that all students were equal, even those with the title of Prefect or Head Boy/Girl and that whilst those individuals were due respect from the student body they had limits and rules which they must follow. For this point all that Hermione could think of was when Malfoy had been made a prefect. They were her deputies and Hermione was not going to allow any of them to bend rules and favour certain houses or blood statuses. The past years' indiscretions had to put behind them.

As she heard herself be introduced by Professor McGonagall, Hermione's nerves vanished until she started walking toward the Hall and heard the clapping of the student body. The clapping was a lot louder than she had ever heard before, but then she had never heard it from this position before. She stepped out just in front of the teachers' table and smiled at all of them; their gentle smiles reassuring her and giving her a final boost of confidence. All of that confidence was zapped out of her as she turned toward the student body and realised the real reason that the clapping had sounded so loud was because it was not just the students standing in the Great Hall. Hermione had never seen the room so full and she had never imagined this many people could even fit in it. She approached the podium, studying the crowd to try and gauge exactly who was present. She looked first at the Gryffindor table and her eyes were immediately drawn to a bright red colour. A wave of ease washed over her as she recognised Mr and Mrs Weasley, Percy and Bill standing next to Ginny. Next to them, Hermione saw her own parents and she smiled at them, ignoring everyone else in the room.

As she started speaking, Hermione kept her eyes on the Weasleys and her own parents, but as her speech progressed so did her confidence and she found herself looking around at the entire room. When it came close to the end of her speech, the part where she mentioned each school house by name, Hermione made a conscious effort to look at each table including Slytherin. She faltered slightly when looking there as she saw Draco Malfoy and his parents. Flashes of Malfoy Manor and the pain she suffered coursed through her mind, temporarily making her forget what she had to say next. Hermione was aware that she stuttered a few words as she desperately tried to block the mental images of her torture. She felt as if it were like Harry's scar which hurt whenever Voldemort was active except her mental scars hurt when she saw the Malfoys.

She knew that the Hall was silent and imagined worried looks crossing the faces of the teachers behind her, querying her silence. Hermione had no idea how long she had been silent for or if everyone was staring at her as if she had lost her mind. Out of the silence she heard a slight cough, followed by a louder one. Tearing her eyes from the Malfoys, Hermione moved them to the source of the coughing and immediately smiled. Standing in the doorway, with large smiles on their faces were Harry and Ron. Her confidence fully restored, Hermione completed her speech without looking at anyone but her two best friends. She stepped back from the podium and the Hall broke out into clapping and Hermione kept her eyes on Harry and Ron as she moved to one side, allowing Neville to enter the Hall and take his place at the podium.

Hermione listened as Neville described his previous year at the school, using it to bond with the younger repeating students who had only known that way and then explain that it was not how Hogwarts worked. He explained how he was excited about the school he loved returning to what it had been and that all of them together as one school could overcome all of the magical differences. Neville spoke of how proud he had been during the Battle of Hogwarts when the school had united, when the Ministry, Hogwarts and parents had united. Hermione could see all of the first and second years watching him with large eyes and hooked on every word that he said. She was very pleased that he was Head Boy because he would be an excellent role model who received automatic respect from nearly all of the students. Neville had mentioned to her the previous night whilst preparing their speeches that the biggest obstacle they would have would be the Slytherin house and that did concern Hermione a great deal.

Neville finished his speech to an even louder round of applause than Hermione had; she suspected that he was seen as a hero for killing Nagini after being deemed worthy enough to summon the sword of Gryffindor. He then moved to stand next to Hermione as Professor McGonagall moved to the podium. Hermione smiled at Neville and he smiled back, but she could see the relief on his face at his task being over. As she turned back to the professor, Hermione noticed for the first time that in the middle of the stage was an easel with something curtained standing upon it. Hermione had not been told anything about that in her preparation for the assembly.

"Members of the Wizarding Community," Professor McGonagall began, "Students of Hogwarts old and present and," she turned towards Kingsley, "Members of the Ministry, I thank you all for coming here today to this site which means so much to everyone. I have asked you all here today to unveil a commemorative plaque which will forever hold the memory of those lives lost during the Battle of Hogwarts. Of course there were many other lives lost and neither this assembly nor the plaque are designed to belittle those people, this is to honour those who gave their life in this very school, for this very school." McGonagall paused and the entire room remained in silence for her. "This room has seen so many wizards and witches pass through the doors, it has fed and examined a great percentage of our community and now for many of us it is seen as a place of death. Hogwarts and this Hall are not representatives of death. We stand today in a place of victory and life, which will continue to see new life enter and leave as long as we wish it to. Those that died within the castle's walls will be forever remembered as doing so to allow victory and life to continue. Whether you fought in the Battle for Magic, for the community, for "good" or for your family, you have all survived to live." Hermione was sure that McGonagall had aimed the 'family' part at the Malfoy family. "I would like to invite two very special guests to join me on the stage - Mr Potter and Mr Weasley."

Hermione watched as the entire room turned to her two best friends and watched them walk down the middle of the room. Everyone started clapping and only stopped once Harry and Ron were standing one on either side of the headmistress. "I would like to welcome back to Hogwarts, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, both of whom fought valiantly in this very room alongside many of the rest of you. If it were not for these two and our Head Girl, Hermione Granger, I am not sure that Hogwarts would be open let alone have all of you present in it today and I should just like to inform you both that for the remainder of this year, the Gryffindor common room will still grant you both access."

"Thank you, professor," Harry said and Ron smiled and mumbled a bit before they both moved to stand next to Hermione. Neville shifted himself along slightly so that Hermione was standing in-between her two best friends. She found both of their hands and held them, neither boy refusing her. She would be having a word with both of them after the assembly, to chastise them for not telling her they would be here. There had been nothing mentioned in the owl Ron had sent her the day before.

"Now," the professor said loudly, "our Minister for Magic."

Kingsley took to the podium and seemed to take his time looking at every individual before starting to speak. "I am not going to say much as there are other ceremonies planned to celebrate and remember. What I am going to say is that I am incredibly proud of what was achieved in this Castle on the second of May. I am immensely humbled by the decisions of our community that have allowed me to stand here. The fact that adults and children, Ministry, Order of the Phoenix and Hogwarts' staff stood together in combat fills me with respect for all of you, to whom I am merely a servant. Hogwarts Castle stood for freedom and bravery and it is my honour to welcome the families of those lost. Mr Weasley," he gestured to Ron.

Ron released Hermione's hand and moved toward the covered plaque and removed the curtain. Underneath was a large golden plaque which Hermione could see had the date of second May 1998 along the top and then a list of fifty or so names. From her location, Hermione could not see any of the names, but no one needed to. Ron returned to her side and took hold of Hermione's hand before she could take his.

Kingsley returned his attention to the crowd and the door opposite him opened. "Mr George Weasley, brother of Fred from Gryffindor," he said and the remaining twin entered the room, smiling and waving like only a Weasley Twin could. Hermione was glad to see George seeming a bit more like his old self. Kingsley shook George's hand and then George moved to the opposite side of the room, passing the plaque and placing a hand upon it. Hermione listened as others were called, some of whom had familiar surnames whilst others did not. "Mrs Andromeda Tonks, mother of Nymphadora Lupin from Hufflepuff," Kingsley called and Hermione looked up to watch Tonks' mother walk down the centre of the room. In her arms was Teddy Lupin, now five months old. Andromeda approached the plaque and placed a kiss on the top of it. Hermione blinked back tears and dared a glance at where she had seen the Malfoys earlier. Draco's mother seemed to be silently crying at her sister's actions. Hermione watched further as Dennis Creevey and his parents were called into the room. Dennis looked like he had been crying ever since May, as did his mother. Hermione realised that she had not seen Dennis since returning to Hogwarts and he was not dressed in his robes.

Once Kingsley had finished calling the next of kin of those named on the plaque, he moved aside and Harry returned to the podium. Harry cleared his throat and began to address the room. "I would like to announce a special mention on this plaque for the former Headmaster of this school." Hermione followed his pointed finger to the lower section of the plaque, assuming that Harry was referring to Dumbledore. "Professor Snape, Slytherin Headmaster and one time Death Eater. He tried his hardest to keep Hogwarts safe during the war and many of us here have him to thank for being here today. Everyone before me today has spoken of uniting together and I know that for some of you, the thought of houses uniting is unheard of, but Professor Snape shows that all four houses exist to create Hogwarts and he shall be remembered alongside those others." He paused. "Professor Snape," he cheered and after a longer, doubted pause everyone inside of Hogwarts cheered his name.


	5. Together Once More

**Chapter Five: Together Once More**

Once all of the speeches were completed, the new plaque was hung by Filch on the wall in the Entrance Hall and next to the doors leading to the Great Hall. In its position, everyone would see it every day as they walked down the large staircase from lessons. As people started to file out of the Great Hall slowly, admiring the plaque as they went, Hermione grabbed hold of Harry and Ron's hands and pulled them down into the trophy room. Once there she flung her arms around both of them and squeezed tightly. Neither of them fought the embrace, but Hermione was aware that both of them were giggling against her. She pulled away and glared at one and then the other.

"What is so funny?" she demanded. They were both fully laughing now, not just giggling.

"Sorry, Hermione," Harry apologised. "It's just that we only saw you about two days ago."

"Two days is a long time," she pouted.

"And," Ron laughed, "we knew that you'd react like this."

Hermione scowled at her boyfriend. "Well, I'm glad that you two have discussed it in such depth. You must have been so busy discussing what my reaction would be that you forgot to tell me you'd even be here!" Her voice sounded angry, but everyone knew that she was not truly angry. There may have been a small amount of hurt feelings felt by her, but she was not angry that they had not told her.

"Mate," Harry said quietly, "I told you we should have told her."

Hermione again looked from one to the other and had to stifle her own laughter. Both boys were staring at their feet to avoid her gaze because she was being her usual self and telling them off. They in response were acting just like they always did. Her friends looked like guilty five year olds and with that thought, Hermione could not hold her laughter back anymore. "It may," she said in-between laughs, "have only been a few days, but I have missed you both. And I was very relieved when you both started coughing during my speech."

"No problem and I've missed you, too, Hermione," Harry replied. "It might be the early days of my training and I might already be an experienced dueller, but there's a lot to learn."

"Yeah," Ron agreed, "and he doesn't have you to copy from."

"Shut up, Ron," both Hermione and Harry said as all three of them burst out laughing again.

"I think I'm missing Hogwarts," Ron said when some of the laughter dried up. "I always thought I'd like being at home with just my folks, but without everyone else there… it's kind of boring and quiet."

"Be careful what you wish for, mate," Harry joked. "So," he asked, "how is Hogwarts?"

Hermione smiled. "Different. Very different. I haven't had any lessons yet because of today, but there's people missing and obviously some who won't ever return." She looked at her friends and the laughter left all three of them at this comment. They all knew that she meant those that had sacrificed their lives and Harry and Ron. "There's a new head of Gryffindor House. Professor MacDonald, she's the Muggle Studies teacher because apparently one of her good friends here was a Muggle-born. I haven't really spoken to her yet, but I will when I take her class."

"You're taking Muggle Studies?" both boys asked at the same time.

Hermione nodded. "A new requirement of all students. Our year doesn't have to take it as N.E.W.T because there's not enough time, but we do have to do it. It's a new initiative to try and rectify certain obvious problems." Hermione had only received her new timetable that morning to know that Muggle Studies was now a mandatory subject. She did not mind, partially because she thought it would be good for everyone in the Wizarding community to understand the Muggle world and partially because how difficult could the class be for her, a Muggle-born?

"I bet Malfoy's gonna love that," Harry said.

"Did you see him at the Slytherin table with his parents?" Ron asked rhetorically. "People like him shouldn't have been allowed back this year."

"Ronald," Hermione objected, "did you not listen to anyone's speeches? Last year has to be forgiven and anyone is allowed to atone for their actions. Malfoy may surprise us yet. When Professor McGonagall said something in her speech about fighting for our families, I think Malfoy's mother got a bit upset."

"Wouldn't you be?" Ron asked. "Her sister killed the niece she dis-owned, their cousin and was in league with those responsible for the deaths of her brother-in-law. And she almost lost her own _precious_ son in the process. I doubt any of the Malfoy's can repent."

"Have you run into him yet?" Harry asked, altering the subject slightly. He had heard Mrs Malfoy betray and lie to Voldemort for the sake of her family, defecting from the Death Eater side of the battle. Harry had no idea what that meant lay in store for Mrs Malfoy or the others, but he liked the idea of something good coming from everyone's heartache.

Hermione shook her head. "No, but I'll have the normal classes with him, although he does have to repeat some of his sixth year."

Ron laughed slightly. "I hope he gets Ginny in those classes and she kicks his traitorous, snivelling arse from here to-"

"Ronald!" Hermione warned, stopping Ron mid-sentence. He looked at her apologetically.

"You better let us know if he causes you any trouble," Harry said.

"Or any Slytherin," Ron added despite their combined knowledge that Hermione could look after herself better than either boy.

"I'm sure everyone will be just fine. It'll be like how it was a few years ago before all of this stuff came into the school. We'll all be normal school kids again."

"Hermione," Harry said softly, "we'll never be normal school kids ever again." He paused and the three of them all remained silent, considering how far away from normal they all were, until Harry spoke again. "Did you see Dennis Creevey?"

"He looked heartbroken," Ron answered.

"And he wasn't wearing robes," Hermione added. "I haven't seen him since I've been back. I think, maybe, he isn't returning."

"There'll be a few like that," Ron said. "Mainly Muggle-born kids if their parents don't understand everything."

"I haven't seen Lavender yet," Hermione whispered. They had all started whispering as if their subject matter were too sensitive to be spoken any louder. "She wasn't at the Welcoming Feast and her trunk isn't in our dorm. It's just Parvati and I."

"She's not a Muggle-born," Harry replied as if that would be the only reason for not returning to Hogwarts.

"But she was attacked by Fenrir." The three of them fell silent once more, each of them internally questioning what had happened to their classmate. "I'll leave it a few days and ask Parvati. If she ever comes back to our dorm." Hermione sighed. "She spends most of her evenings with Padma in the Ravenclaw common room."

"Has the common room changed?" Harry asked with an eager look on his face.

"McGonagall did say we were always welcome," Ron commented as both boys started towards the door to leave the room. Ron paused. "Come on, Hermione."

Hermione ran the few steps to catch up with her best friends and chatted with them the entire way up to the Gryffindor common room. It felt so right for them to both be there and Hermione could only wish that the night did not have to end.


	6. Loneliness and Lies

**Chapter Six: Loneliness and Lies**

Hermione could not explain her mood. She felt incredibly alone and depressed. She could not believe that in this Castle, which was so full of people, she could feel so alone. It was similar to on the train from King's Cross; she had been surrounded by people whom she called friends, but so alone. Hermione had always known that it was possible to be alone within a crowd, but she had not expected it to happen again to her and not for such a period of time. It was a few weeks into the term and Hermione was, once again, excelling at her studies, but so incredibly lonely that she was beginning to no longer see the point. She sat in lessons, once again, always knowing the answer and putting her hand up before anyone else. She, once again, heard everyone's groans of annoyance at how she knew everything. After lessons, she would go to the library where she would, once again, study alone until she would return to her dorm and fall asleep. It was only in sleep where she was not alone, for in her dreams, Hermione had her friends and had her final year at school the way in which it should have been.

Uncharacteristically for her, Hermione found herself sleeping in a little bit more over the weekends and sometimes going to bed earlier on a weeknight. She liked her dreams. In her dreams, nothing was different and she had Harry and Ron with her. She still had the nightmares about Bellatrix, but they were less frequent. Hermione considered this a very good thing as she doubted Parvati would awaken and comfort her as Ron had been doing for months. Hermione sometimes questioned if Parvati even slept in their shared dormitory because some nights Hermione never heard the other Gryffindor girl. Maybe Parvati was suffering similarly to Hermione, alone without Lavender Brown. She had not admitted it to anyone yet, but Hermione had cried quite a few times in the past few weeks. Every time that she got upset enough to cry, Hermione's memories of first year and Ron's hurtful words and her lack of friends came flooding back making her cry even harder. She knew that the Troll incident had been the turning point and that, in some ways, Ron's hurtful words had been a pivotal step in creating the friendship between Hermione and the boys and then, the evolution of her relationship with Ron. That was exactly why the thought of the incident made her cry more; Hermione knew that now, when she was sobbing her lonely heart out, there would be no one to rescue her. She had often had the thought that if she were attacked by a Troll, or were to get stuck in the sinking sand step that nobody would notice until she was late for a lesson and then the student body would probably be grateful for no _Little-Miss-Know-It-All_ being there.

Hermione knew that she was being melodramatic, but things had changed so much and she was not sure how she was supposed to cope. She would often remember back to third year when Ron and Harry both stopped speaking to her and she spent a lot more time with Hagrid. She felt the same now, the pain and loneliness trying constantly to overwhelm her. It helped that she did at least still have Ron and Harry now and that she did not have to face them blanking her and refusing to speak with her. Hermione still received owls from Harry, as well as from Ron and she also got to speak to Ron every night by Floo. She wrote massively long letters to both boys, despite speaking with Ron every night. It was the only thing to do with her time other than study and wallow. Hermione refused to tell Ron the truth about how upset she was all of the time. She had deemed that course of action selfish as all it would lead to was Ron promising to return to Hogwarts to be there for her. Hermione knew that George needed him more than she did.

She did tell Harry the truth because he was her best friend and no matter how her relationship changed and evolved with Ron, nothing would stop her friendship with Harry. Hermione also figured that if she did not tell Harry, Ginny was likely to. Ginny tried to include Hermione in things, but for Hermione it was not the same. A whole year had passed between Hermione and the rest of the students. A whole year in which, for most of the students, they had all remained at Hogwarts, bonding together to fight against the Carrows. Hermione had not shared in any of those experiences and so felt left out a lot. It was not quite like other times when she had been friendless or alone, because this time she was not picked on or whispered about. It was the respect fighting alongside Harry Potter brought her, although she had caught some of the younger students whispering about her. It had included whispers of _"Isn't that her?" "Harry Potter's friend?" "Wow, Hermione Granger!"._ Hermione had blushed and quickly found a reason to go somewhere that was in the opposite direction. There were also whispers from Slytherins, but no matter who was nearby someone told them to shut it, standing up for Hermione. Except for when they cornered her in the library. The newer Slytherin students were not a problem, it was Hermione's fellow seventh year Slytherin students who seemed to purposefully find her in the library when she was alone. Or they would find her on her way to bed from the library. One evening, Theodore Nott had stopped her in the hallway to make snide comments concerning her return to Hogwarts. She had told him to _'shove off'_, but then from seemingly out of nowhere, Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson had turned up. Hermione's arms had been full of library books so she could not have reached for her wand quickly enough. The three Slytherin students ganging up on her did not have their wands out though and they seemed more intent on taunting Hermione. Pansy had pushed Hermione roughly against a wall before they had all strutted off. Hermione tried to ensure that she was not the last one in the library after that experience. It was as if they knew all of the correct buttons to press. They knew that she was a skilled dueller, that she had been tested and had proven her worth on the Battlefield, but words were something she did not have a shield charm for. Goyle had cornered Hermione one afternoon after a Charms lesson, hissing at her concerning Crabb's death and that he blamed her and her _'two poofter boyfriends'_. It was only because Ernie Macmillan had come over to them that Hermione had not raised her wand at the Slytherin. Ernie had asked Hermione questions about some homework and then left her on her own.

That was what confused and upset Hermione further. She had people's respect, people constantly asked her what her missing year had been like, whether the stories they had heard where true or not, but no one ever asked her what it had been like for her or how she was. No one knew that she was upset or lonely, her outward appearance was that of normal Hermione who studied and then studied some more. Ginny would sometimes try, but Ginny had her own friends and life at Hogwarts. She had tried to include Hermione in things, but Ginny was very busy with her Quidditch training and even surrounded by other people Hermione felt alone. The simple fact was she could complain as much as she wanted about being lonely and believing no one to care about her, but she made it that way. She did not want anyone in the school to worry about her. She did not want to make new friends; she simply wanted her old ones back, and her old life. Hermione knew that it was partly her own fault, but she was happy to keep herself distant from everyone else and keeping herself to herself.

As she turned a corner in the empty corridors, Hermione saw Luna Lovegood wandering around a short distance away. Luna was looking upwards and looked as if she were searching the ceiling for something. Quietly, Hermione approached the girl that she now fully considered a friend. "Luna, what are you doing?"

Luna did not stop what she was doing as she continued searching. "I think I just saw a Nargle."

"Oh." Hermione raised her eyebrows in doubt, but followed Luna's gaze. She had learnt a long time ago to not instantly dismiss Luna because, for all of her crazy beliefs, Luna was an incredibly loyal and brave friend. Hermione could not fail to respect the Ravenclaw.

"I know what you're going to say."

"What? I mean, I don't doubt that."

Luna looked at Hermione and seemed confused, either at her words or the fact that she seemed to be searching for Nargles, too. "They are more common at Christmas, but they do come out all year around." Luna sighed, shrugged her shoulders and smiled brightly at Hermione. "I think they've already moved on. Probably gone off somewhere else to hide someone's things." Hermione looked Luna up and down to check if the younger girl were wearing shoes or not and she found that she was. "What are you doing out here, Hermione?"

"Huh? Oh, just… out… walking." Hermione was unsure of the truthful answer. She tried to avoid wandering around alone in case any Slytherin students were lurking around a corner, but for some reason she had needed to get out of the Gryffindor common room that evening. Sometimes the memories surrounding her there got too much. With a blink of her eyes she would see Ron sitting at a table, playing Wizard chess. Or she would see Harry sitting opposite her near the fire, worrying over homework or conspiracies regarding Snape or Malfoy. Sometimes Hermione could hear the two of them moaning at her and trying to get her to help them with their homework. She missed their lazy behaviour.

"Are you looking for Nargles, too? I thought I saw a Crumple Horned Snorkack yesterday, so be careful."

Hermione smiled politely. "I will do. Thank you, Luna."

Luna turned to leave Hermione, but she paused with her back to her. Glancing backwards slightly, Luna spoke, "Things are very different this year, aren't they?" There was a slight pause where Hermione was not sure if she should answer or not. Before Hermione could decide, Luna spoke again. "It almost doesn't feel like Hogwarts without Harry and Ron here." As Luna said the words out loud, Hermione lost the ability to make any sound. "In some ways last year it was easier to deal without them because we had Dumbledore's Army. This year we don't." She smiled at Hermione and began to walk away. "Although some of us are still here," she said with a distant voice and she continued walking away. Hermione had come to realise over the years that Luna was a lot cleverer than people assumed, partly because other people just saw 'Loony Lovegood' when they looked at Luna. However, Hermione had come to realise that Luna was put in the Ravenclaw house for a very good reason. Not only was she a very powerful and excellent witch, but Luna also absorbed everything around her and knew so much about magic and people intuitively. "Watch out for the Crumple Horned Snorkack!"

Hermione smiled with some of her loneliness lifted. It was clear to Hermione that Luna was giving her the invitation to talk if she should ever choose to. "Thank you," she called back to the shrinking Luna who in return skipped a few meters and then resumed walking, searching for Nargles. Her relationship with Luna was nothing like any other relationship Hermione had, but it was still not one that meant she could open up. Hermione could only imagine trying to talk to Luna about her feelings of loneliness because despite her immense intuition there was also her ability to be embarrassingly honest and her capability to be distant and dreamy. There really were only two people in the world that she wanted to talk to and just a few months ago Hermione had them all of the time. Everything was so similar to two years ago when she had started her sixth year and yet so different. After the Battle, she and Ron had discussed how events of just over a year ago felt like they were in a different lifetime and the same was true of Hogwarts. Maybe Hermione had outgrown the school, but she needed her N.E.. Despite all of the similarities and differences all that Hermione really knew was that it felt like the first year all over again: friendless, nightmarish Hermione. But unlike her rescue from the Troll and loneliness in the form of Harry and Ron, this year no one would rescue her because the only ones who could were not here. So Hermione resolved herself to this fact and only shared the information with Harry. For the first time since they had become more than friends Hermione found that she was lying to Ron.


	7. Antagonistic Conversations

**Chapter Seven: Antagonistic Conversations**

Hermione Granger was surrounded by open books and she was getting more and more frustrated by the second. She slammed shut the book directly in front of her and growled in resentment. The books were conspiring against her now; they were trying to prevent her being able to finish her work. If she had not have been in a relatively good mood, Hermione would have declared that her one sanctuary from everything else was rebelling against her. She spent most of her days sitting in lessons studying, or sitting in the library studying and occasionally she would read a book in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. No matter where Hermione was, she spent her days mostly silent. She spoke during lessons when she had answers or questions and she would speak if a conversation nearby warranted it. During meal-times, the boys around her discussed Quidditch and sometimes football. Apparently Dean Thomas had converted Seamus into watching the sport and Neville would sometimes participate. Ginny was on a different timetable and would often arrive late for meal times, especially as she had set the Gryffindor Quidditch team an incredibly tough schedule. Professor McGonagall had suggested to Professor MacDonald that Ginny would make the best choice for team captain and Ginny was thrilled. She had immediately sent an owl to Harry and her mother; Harry had replied immediately with the promise of making the first Hogsmeade weekend. It did mean that there were even fewer people around who wanted to speak to Hermione though.

Hermione knew that she could often come across as blunt and bossy, and as such sometimes the other seventh year prefects did not want to be around her. She found it difficult to not complain to them about how they were handling their work, but at least none of them were as bad as the Slytherin prefects. Professor McGonagall had decided it would be prudent to not allow Pansy Parkinson retain her prefect title after her vocal thoughts on ratting Harry out to Voldemort. Instead, Daphne Greengrass, a girl Hermione had not had much contact with, and Blaise Zabini were the Slytherin prefects. Hermione knew Blaise from the Slug Club gatherings, but he was even less of a friend than the other Slug Club members or seventh year students. Hermione was still trying to battle her loneliness, mainly by studying and counting down the days until the year would be over. She never would have thought it possible that she would want school to be over because she had always loved everything about it so much. Hermione had enjoyed her day so far, which was a rarity. It had started with all of her favourite lessons, including a Muggle Studies class which she was enjoying quite well and the homework was easier than everything else and really did not need any extra research. At the end of the class, Professor MacDonald had informed the class that the weekend after Hogsmeade, they were all going to be travelling to London for a day-trip and test of their ability to coexist with Muggles. It was the first time that a class had involved a day-trip and Hermione was excited about the prospect. She knew that she would excel at it and she had already written her parents to arrange a lunchtime meeting. It would be the first time since the beginning of term celebratory assembly that she had seen anyone other than her classmates.

Unfortunately, Hermione's good mood was being ruined by the inability to do her homework. She frantically scanned all of the books surrounding her, trying to find the correct one. The one that Hermione needed was buried under a couple of others. All of the books were open at the relevant sections, bending the spines fully backwards. Hermione furiously pushed two books aside to get to the book she needed, ignoring Madam Pince's glares. Hermione's eyes scanned over the page in front of her, noisily flicked the page over and repeated the action. After four pages, Hermione growled and slammed it shut just like the last one.

"Miss Granger!" Madam Pince shouted across the library in such a stern way that a few nearby first years hurriedly gathered their belongings and ran from the library. "Do not run in here," the librarian ordered and the first years continued on at a fast pace.

Hermione glanced over with an apologetic look on her face and got to her feet. Clearly, she decided, she did not have all of the books that she needed with her. She went to the section in the library where she had already taken a lot of books from and reached straight for the next one she needed. Someone else's hand got to it before her.

"Sorry," Draco Malfoy whispered. Hermione turned to look at him and saw him holding the book out to her. "You take it."

"Oh, thank you," she whispered, taking the book from him. Hermione was not sure that she had ever seen Draco in the library before.

"How long are you going to be using that book for?" he asked and Hermione looked at him in confusion. She was still confused by the fact that he had handed the book over to her in the first place. That was not the Draco Malfoy of years one to six at Hogwarts.

"Um," she paused as her brain clouded in confusion. "I'm just trying to write an essay, but it's not going too well. I just need to check something in here." They both stood in the aisle of books as Hermione tried to figure out what was going on. "How long do you need it for?"

"I need it for a year six essay. It needs to be in next week." He did not seem to be making any move to leave the current aisle of books and Hermione was beginning to get worried. Was he stalling her there, waiting for his cronies to arrive? Hermione had a brief panic that they were so far back in the library stalls that nobody would hear her if she were to be attacked. Then again, Madam Pince would hear a pin drop from the back of the room in this place.

"Year six?" she questioned, looking at his face for the first time. He somehow seemed paler than normal, with larger bags under his eyes. Rightly or wrongly, Draco had been through a very tough year which was incredibly different to other students. She was under the impression that he had returned to Hogwarts, despite his status as a Death Eater, until the Easter holidays when she had seen him at Malfoy Manor. Hermione still had nightmares about being in Draco's house, but thankfully only once or twice a week.

"I didn't do much work in year six," he said very simply, turning his out of focus eyes onto the books on the nearest shelf.

Hermione's eyes narrowed with the reminder of what he had spent his sixth year doing – plotting to get the Vanishing Cabinet working and then bringing in Death Eaters. He was responsible for Bill Weasley's scarring at the hands of Fenrir, inadvertently poisoning Ron and torturing Katie Bell. "So, you're repeating the year?" She did not try and control her voice as she did not care whether she angered him with a mocking tone or merely seemed overly nosey. Hermione expected him to make some snide comment at her, call her a Mudblood and storm off or raise his wand at her.

"Yeah," he nodded as he continued to pretend to look at the books. "I'm doing both years at once."

"That must be stressful," she commented trying to block the tiny bit of sympathy that had sprung up within her.

He shrugged his shoulders. "That's all the past few years seems to be."

She placed the book back on the shelf. "You can take it, if you want," she offered. "I'm weeks ahead with my homework and you need it more than I do." Hermione turned to leave as she needed to escape from being near to him. How dare he remark how stressful his past few years had been, she thought. It had been his choice to take Voldemort's mission to kill Dumbledore and his family who had chosen to be Death Eaters. Considering what Hermione had been through in the past year, let alone few years, Draco's stress and suffering was insignificant.

"Hermione," he said and she stopped. Turning back to face him she nodded her head to indicate that he should continue. "I just wanted to say-"

"Don't," she hissed. She shook her head as she took a step backwards, away from Draco. "If you're going to try and apologise, don't." She did not want Draco Malfoy to apologise to her for the years of abuse he had given her, for all of the names he had called her, for everything he had ever done to her friends. He had tried to get Hagrid sacked, Buckbeak executed, insulted the Weasley family countless times and Hermione's blood status. No amount of redemption or apologising could make up for what he had done or who he was. Hermione did not doubt that Draco Malfoy was bad to his very core.

"I'm not," he replied calmly. Hermione truly expected Draco to attack her verbally any minute. Attack her either because he hated her Muggle heritage or because he could not get his own way with her.

"What then?"

"It's about at my home, at Malfoy Manor."

She froze on the spot, aware that he had turned his attention to her and that he could see her weakness. She expected him to smile maliciously, knowing that it was all he ever had to do to beat her. The torture that his aunt had performed on her was like nothing Hermione had ever experienced before and she hoped that she never would again. Did Malfoy know how the torture still affected her sleep? Or that she still awoke in the middle of the night with the feeling of curses running through her? She sometimes felt as if the surface of her brain, right underneath her scalp, was covered in scars which would never heal. Did he know how it pained her to hear Ron screaming her name? How she had fought so hard to resist Bellatrix's questioning? How, at the back of her mind, she had thought of Neville's parents? Neville's parents were older, stronger and had a child to stay strong for, if they had been driven mad by Bellatrix Lestrange, what hope did she, a teenager with no Auror training, have in surviving? She knew that Draco had not tortured her directly and that he had tried not to reveal that their prisoner was Mudblood Hermione, but he had still been there. Draco had seen Hermione in her most vulnerable state and he was the closest thing she had to a nemesis. He could use this knowledge of her to make her life at Hogwarts worse than it already was.

"I just wanted you to know," he continued when she did not say anything, "that I haven't told anyone about what happened there." He paused as if expecting her thanks. "And I won't ever."

She nodded at him, her tongue still paralysed with thoughts of the pain which had ripped through her mind and body. "Okay," she finally whispered when he made no move to leave.

"All right then," he said. He turned back to the book shelf and picked up the book she had allowed him to take. "Thank you for this."

With his gratitude spoken, Draco walked away from Hermione and once he was out of sight, she let out the breath she had been inadvertently holding. She was shaking in shock both at Draco's niceties and apparent human decency, and at the feelings flooding through her body. Not since the moment she had seen the entire Malfoy family at the assembly had Hermione's memories been so close to the surface. She felt worse than she did after one of her nightmares. Trying to regain her composure, Hermione slowly walked back to her table of books and gathered everything up. Quietly, Hermione left the library and returned to her dormitory where she went straight to bed. Feeling quite confident that the nightmares would be worse that night, Hermione performed the _Muffliato_ charm in an attempt to prevent Parvati awakening to her screams.


	8. Hogsmeade Happiness

**Chapter Eight: Hogsmeade Happiness**

Ron Weasley impatiently paced backwards and forwards, trying to wear a groove into the pavement. There was a routine to his pacing now – five large steps in one direction parallel to the kerb and then he would pause, look all around and turn a half-turn before taking another five large steps. He would then repeat the looking all around and then pace again. Ron had been doing this routine for over ten minutes, but he would have sworn to anyone who asked that it had been over twenty minutes. He knew that he was early because he had finished his business meeting early in anticipation. Ron had hoped that she would be eager to see him and therefore early too. They were meeting slightly off the normal track for Hogwarts' students and not near any of the normal haunts for her classmates. Professor McGonagall had made it clear that he was allowed into Hogwarts and into the Gryffindor common room, but whilst they desired their privacy from other students, Ron and Hermione had still wanted to meet in Hogsmeade. Hermione had written Ron stating that it would be more like a date if they were to meet in Hogsmeade. There was a tiny part of Ron that thought they were way past the 'dating' part of their relationship. A larger part of Ron agreed with Hermione that they had missed the 'dating' part of their relationship and should maybe try and capture some of it. Their romantic relationship had started pretty much as the battle had started and the war ended, and it was always going to be difficult to try and be a 'normal' teenage couple when they had been best-friends for a large portion of their lives. Sometimes it would hit Ron that Hermione was likely to be in his life for the entirety of their adult existence and that not many people could say that about a friend, let alone a partner. In some ways, everything was acting against them being a 'normal' teenage couple, but Ron would not change anything for a second.

Except that maybe, she could turn up to meet him before he really did carve a groove into the pavement that would forever be referred to as "Ron's Trench". It was the weekend before Halloween and Ron was quite glad that their Hogsmeade weekend had not fallen on Halloween weekend as George had both of them working full-time to take full advantage of all the child and adult customers. George had been working a lot since Ron had started working with him in September and in less than two months the shop had resumed making a profit. Apparently, post war wizards and witches still required magical potions and practical jokes. The twins had known from day one that the students of Hogwarts would always need puking pastilles. Ron did still worry about George and the amount of work the elder Weasley did. George had never been known for his ability to work hard or concentrate on anything other than directly creating mischief. Ron was not sure whether it was the absence of Fred which made George work so hard on indirectly causing mischief or if it was a way to make Fred proud of him or the way he kept his twin's memory alive. All that Ron did know was that from the moment he awoke until the moment he sent Ron packing at the end of the day, all George did was work. It was either in the front of the shop and interacting with the customers, or doing paperwork upstairs whilst Ron re-stocked the shelves at the end of the day. There was no doubt in Ron's mind that George continued working even once he had returned to his mother's home cooked dinner. George was so intent of making Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes a success that he had sent Ron into Hogsmeade to have a meeting at Zonko's concerning buying it.

It was that business meeting that Ron had managed to tie up quicker than expected to try and meet Hermione early, but she was not early. A tiny doubt flitted through him that it was because she was too busy in her life which did not include him, but the thought soon flew away into the warm October morning. During their hunt for Horcruxes, Ron had been tasked with destroying the locket and had been taunted by it concerning his insecurities. It had played on his feelings of Hermione not loving him and of being his mother's least favourite son, but Ron knew that the power of the locket had not spoken the truth. He was completely comfortable with both his mother's love for him and his relationship with Hermione. She often wrote about her school day and the classes she had attended, the homework that she had and how she was feeling. In their letters to each other, both Ron and Hermione discussed their missing the other so Ron knew that Hermione wanted to meet him in Hogsmeade and that nothing would hold her up intentionally. He would much prefer his life to include her more at the moment and he knew that she felt the same way. Ron took his fifth step and looked around him for Hermione. He sighed in relief and happiness as he saw her walking quickly down the road towards him.

"Where have you been?" he asked with a smile on his face as he held open his arms.

"Sorry," she apologised, falling into his hug. "I woke up late." She buried her face into his chest and both of them stood there, holding each other and absorbing the sensations of simply holding each other.

Ron did not think that it was possible to have forgotten what she felt like to hold and how she smelt in just a few short weeks, but he had forgotten that her hair smelled as fresh as it did and he seemed to need reminding of so many other little details. "That's okay," he finally replied. "We do have all day."

They pulled away from each other and Hermione immediately sought out his hand to hold as they both started to walk down the road. They were still heading away from the main street where all of the students went to the joke shop or pub or Honeydukes. Neither of them discussed where they were heading, each of them knew that they did not want to be surrounded by the other students and that they wanted to just be with each other. In the past year, Ron and Hermione had either been on the run in random forests or fields, in hiding at Shell Cottage, living at the Burrow together or living apart. They had not, in all of that time, gone for a walk alone. After a few minutes of walking with silent smiles upon their faces, Ron broke the silence.

"How come you got up late?" he asked, knowing that it was not quite like her to sleep in. "Were you up all night studying?"

She paused and then nodded her head at him. "Yeah, there's already quite a bit of work, but then it is the final N.E.W.T year." Without letting him get a word in, she continued, "How did your meeting go?"

"The original owners don't want to re-open it," he answered. "And seeing as it's been closed for quite a while now, they are more than happy to sell it."

"That's really good news!" Hermione smiled, hugging Ron before he could stop himself from walking and they both stumbled a bit and then laughed as they stood up straight and continued walking.

"I'm going to tell George everything and then he'll decide if we're going to go ahead with it. Money is still a bit of a question seeing as we were closed for over a year."

"Oh, just think, Ron, if he does, George might send you to set it up and then you'd be just down the road from me for the rest of the year."

Ron smiled at the giddy sound to Hermione's voice. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Hermione," he warned. "I don't know how long it might take or if George is okay to be on his own. You might have finished Hogwarts and be working somewhere else completely."

"Or you might be doing your Auror training."

"Yeah," he mumbled. She looked at him questioningly. Ron shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know yet, that's all. I'm quite enjoying working with George and the stuff Harry writes about in his letters… I spent all of last year doing that. Somehow tracking down and fighting bad guys doesn't sound as appealing as it once did. Working in the shop seems so normal at the moment and normal seems so…" He could not think of the right word.

"Normal?" she asked with a smile on her face and Ron nodded. "I think normal's good," she informed him. "And whatever you decide to do, I'll be with you."

He leaned over and kissed her on top of her head and then wrapped an arm around her as they continued walking down a street they had never walked before. Whilst Ron had not told anyone of his possible change in career aspirations, he had known since the thoughts had first formed that Hermione would be behind him one-hundred per-cent no matter what he chose to do. "Don't get me wrong, I do miss breaking into Gringott's and the Ministry."

She playfully pushed him and changed the subject. "How is George coping?"

"He works. A lot." Ron shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I don't think anyone can know. He comes back to the Burrow for dinner once a week and he seems to be okay then, but at work… He's all about the show to the customers."

"So you think he's still hiding everything?" she asked, referring to the many hours he had spent locked in a bedroom at the Burrow after the final battle.

"Yeah, he walks into the shop and starts performing for the crowds."

"Who are we to say anything though," Hermione whispered. "No one can understand what it's like to lose a twin."

"Angelina's been round to visit a few times," Ron mentioned and he felt Hermione nod her head against him. The continued to walk in a sadder silence until Ron stopped abruptly and spun Hermione to face him.

"Ron, what is it?"

He did not answer at first, cupping her face with his hands and kissing her for the first time in over a month. When he pulled away he grinned at her. "I realised that I hadn't kissed you yet."

"Oh," she replied as she finally opened her eyes, her mouth pointing upwards in a large and very happy smile. "I've missed that." She paused as they both stood there facing each other until she finally asked, "What do you want to do with your day off?"

"You're the one who's escaped the strict confines of Hogwarts. No doubt all you've seen is the inside of the library."

"Not true," she argued.

"Have you been to any Quidditch matches?" he asked and she shook her head.

"I only ever went to support you or Harry. Ginny's taking her responsibilities as Captain very seriously though." Ron laughed at this thinking how Ginny could be worse than Oliver Wood and Angelina combined. There was some of Molly Weasley in her, after all.

"Well, I think," Ron said, "that because you haven't been supporting my sister in the sport I love and miss, you can buy me a Butterbeer." Without waiting for an answer, Ron took hold of Hermione's hand and led her to the Hog's Head. He was not sure why he was taking them to the pub except for the fact that he did not get out very much at the moment and after a year on the run, he wanted to live his life. He was currently living at home with his parents and working for his brother. He did not want the excitement of the past year back, but he also did not like just being at work or sitting at home. The truth was, without Harry and Hermione around him, Ron was quite lonely and friend-less. As soon as they entered the dingy little pub that had been the gateway to the armies, Aberforth Dumbledore spotted them.

"Ron Weasley!" he declared very loudly, "and Hermione Granger!" Both of them blushed as every eye in the pub turned to them. "Come on in, come on in," he called and they reluctantly walked over to him. Ron kept tight hold of Hermione's hand as if the trailing eyes of the other patrons could tear them apart to opposite sides of the pub. He had imagined there would be some attention on them both, but he had not expected such a heroes' welcome from Aberforth. It made him doubt his decision to come into the pub. Maybe they should have remained outside, walking around all day long. As they got to the bar, Aberforth had already put one glass of Butterbeer in front of them and was pouring the second. "On the house," he declared to them as Ron picked up the first glass and handed it to Hermione.

"Thank you, Aberforth," Hermione smiled, taking a sip from her glass. Ron picked up the second glass and glanced at Hermione. She seemed a bit uncomfortable with the attention they were both drawing, but Ron had to admit that he did not find the crowd of smiling people approaching them quite as daunting. It had happened a few times in the shop when people had come up to him and quietly asked him about his antics during the war. They always whispered as everyone was aware of the Weasleys' loss and George was always somewhere nearby. George had never seemed to mind when Ron spoke to customers about the war, unless the shop got too busy and then he would drag his younger brother away from his 'fans'. Ron knew that the attention would soon die down so he was not about to get used to it or seek it out. He did enjoy the knowledge that people were interested in him and not as some side-kick of Harry Potter so he did not need to exaggerate any of their experiences, although he had embellished his mission with Hermione to get Basilisk fangs. He was well aware that he had grown up and changed a lot in the past year, but that did not stop the attention seeking teenager within him basking ever so slightly in the glory that was being seen as a 'War Hero' and not one of the many red-haired Weasley children or Harry's sidekick. What more could Ron ask for than recognition, a fun and stress-less job, and the most beautiful girlfriend in the world?


	9. Tea For Two

**Chapter Nine: Tea for Two**

It was the middle of November and whilst it was only the middle of the afternoon, darkness had already set around Hagrid's lonely looking hut. Hermione approached the hut slowly, wary of the increasing darkness all around her. She would often stand and stare at the odd hut from a random window of the Castle, thinking about how for a half-giant it was odd that his home was dwarfed next to Hogwarts Castle. Hermione would also consider how lonely Hagrid must feel a lot of the time. He was the only one of his _'kind'_ at Hogwarts and often forgotten by members of staff and ignored by certain students. He lived in his little hut all alone aside from Fang and a host of other creatures that he had dedicated his life to looking after. Hermione thought his choice for looking after the weird and wonderful was because he likened himself to them; weird and wonderful when compared to everyone else around him. That was why Hermione liked Hagrid so much – he was able to ease her mind no matter what the problem because somehow he could identify with anyone. She knew that he was the perfect one to lift her constantly down spirited mood.

As lonely as Hagrid's hut appeared, positioned in-between the huge overbearing safety of the castle and the almost indefinite, gloomy dark forest, it was not lonely inside and Hagrid always had time for a pot of tea with Hermione. She had visited him for tea a couple of times since returning for her final year, each time he had attempted to try and resolve her problems but he never fully managed it. Hermione always left Hagrid's hut happier, but then would walk back into the Gryffindor common room and feel the loneliness descend over her once more. It had been similar on her visit to Hogsmeade with Ron. Whilst she and Ron had been walking the streets of Hogsmeade alone there had been no loneliness consuming her from within. Hermione was so accustomed to Ron's company that even as just the two of them or even in complete silence she felt surrounded. As soon as they had entered The Hog's Head, however, everything had changed. She had had to force a smile upon her face and her normal behaviour of nodding and barely saying anything returned. Hermione had never succeeded in being sociable within a group as other people's personalities were larger than hers with louder voices and more confidence. Whether she was in a pub as the joint centre of attention or in the common room as small as an ant, Hermione became quiet.

At least in the pub with Ron, he had remained by her side and holding her hand. At least she had Ron when that afternoon had dragged on until she was due back at Hogwarts. She had enjoyed watching him bask in the attention as she knew it was something he was not accustomed to whatsoever. She, however, was not accustomed to the attention and nor did she want it at all. Hermione was completely happy being the quiet, studious girl was who could count her best friends on one hand and knew that they were there for her no matter what. She had no desire to be one of those people that called everyone their friend but had no true friend to whom they could ever turn. She complained about her loneliness when standing within a crowd of many, but part of Hermione would have it no other way. She did not want to be the centre of the crowd, nor did she desire to have friends to talk to every evening. Quite simply, Hermione wanted her best friends to speak to during the day or in the evening. After Ron had finally dragged himself away from the crowd they had attracted, he had walked her some of the way back to school, apologising for how long they had remained with others on their one day together. Hermione had not been angry or upset with Ron because he had been happy, although she had picked him up on his slight embellishments concerning their retrieval of Basilisk fangs and their first kiss. Hermione did not think that their first kiss, whilst occurring within the time of the Battle of Hogwarts, was entirely related to the Battle and was therefore of no one else's business. She especially did not think that multiple kisses needed to be added to the story, nor was the minor alteration where Ron had stated that their first kiss had actually been down in the Chamber of Secrets just as he saved her from a spider. As she had scornfully told him off for this lie, Ron had flushed a deep red and apologised explaining that he did need to tell people of their first kiss because of its vital importance to his perception of the Battle. Hermione still despaired of him when she thought of his apology.

Without Ron and Harry with her, Hermione was left with only an occasional conversation with Ginny or Neville, discussions with the prefects and talk regarding homework with Hannah or Ernie. She found herself wanting to spend more time with people she had never fully considered friends before, not just because she missed human contact, but also because she wanted more people in her life than just Harry and Ron. Ginny was always busy with Quidditch training and Neville spent many of his evenings in the Hufflepuff common room with Ernie and Hannah. Whenever Hermione ventured downstairs seeking human contact, the only people around were Seamus and Dean and lots of the youngest students who were incredibly loud. A lot of the time, anyone who was in the common room when Hermione made an appearance all went very quiet. She hoped that it was because she was Head Girl and not because people disliked her that much. Hermione was so desperate for normal interaction with other people that she had even attended some Slug Club meetings, but without Ginny and Harry as members the number of people Hermione knew was drastically reduced. There was Blaise Zabini, but Hermione was still wary of Slytherin students and all of the rest were in the years beneath her and scared of her. There was also the fact that Professor Slughorn constantly went on about how he 'knew that Harry Potter was destined for greatness' and how he had been instrumental in helping Harry before the he left Hogwarts to fight in the war. Hermione had quickly stopped attending the gatherings and instead went to Hagrid's for tea on those evenings.

Hermione knocked gently on the door to the hut and waited as she heard Hagrid moving around inside. His hut was not only tiny in comparison to the castle, but also relatively small for him. It was also a lot darker and dingier than the castle itself which was odd given the fact that the castle was so much older and therefore able to be dingier. Hermione could only assume that it was the House Elves that kept the aging castle looking as tidy as it did. Hagrid soon opened the door and smiled through his bushy beard at Hermione.

"Hermione," he greeted, "come on in." Hagrid moved aside and Hermione entered his hut as he closed the door behind her. She sat down at the table and he sat opposite her, pouring a cup of tea for each of them.

"I brought some cakes," she said putting two wrapped parcels onto the table. Hagrid always made the tea and Hermione always brought the cakes because she was not about to attempt to eat ones that he had made. Having dentists as parents ensured that Hermione respected her teeth and she was not about to punish them with some of Hagrid's rock cakes.

"Thank you, Hermione. How's yer week bin?" he asked. Ever since the third year, Hermione had been able to talk to Hagrid about things that bothered her and just as back then when she had been upset about her lack of a friendship with both Harry and Ron, this year she had told him all about her loneliness without them.

"Okay, I guess." She took a sip of her tea and broke off a corner of the cake in front of her. "Harry's letters are becoming less frequent, but then he does have a lot of work to do."

"That he does. How's Ron doin' at that shop o' theirs?"

She nodded, putting the piece of cake into her mouth and chewing it slowly before eventually swallowing it. "He's enjoying it." She smiled, but even she knew that it was only a half-hearted smile and she knew that Hagrid would notice too. "I felt better for a few days after Hogsmeade and seeing him, but it's back to how I always feel again now."

"Hermione, it's not all tha' bad. This year'll soon be over, yeh'll see an' then yeh'll have yeh whole life 'head o' yeh."

She nodded, playing with another piece of cake in her hands. "It's just that whilst he's enjoying himself in his new life, I'm here miserable and I can't even tell him."

"Firs'ly, he's not enjoyin' everything. He's with George who needs 'im. Secondly, it's no' abou' a new life withou' yeh. He's no' gonna forge' abou' yeh, Hermione." She glanced up at the friendly half-giant at this comment and she could not help the tears which were forming in her eyes. "An' yeh can tell him all yeh problems. There's no reason not t' tell him yeh sad and lonely. He cares abou' yeh, Hermione, he'd wanna know."

She nodded, sniffing and trying to blink back the tears. "I just don't want him to worry about me." Hermione could see in her mind the look on Ron's face every time that she awoke screaming – the look of concern and love. She could not tell him the truth about everything that she was thinking and feeling, about how lonely she was without him and Harry or that her nightmares were back because she did not want him to worry and come running to her rescue. Until she had become best friends with those two boys, Hermione had been mostly self-sufficient or as self-sufficient as a pre-teenage girl could be and she was still capable of coping on her own now. She could manage her loneliness and newly returned nightmares on her own because she was determined that she could conquer them. "I think," she said slowly, deliberately choosing the right words, "that this year is one where the three of us need to grow individually." Hermione was fully aware that she had practically spent the entirety of the past seven years with both boys and that it was highly unlikely she would ever lose them from her life now. They all needed this _'gap'_ year to figure out who they each were separately.

"Hermione," Hagrid argued, "yeh've always known who yeh are an' I think those two do too."

"But what if I finish Hogwarts, stay with Ron forever, marry him and have children with him and realise that from the age of eleven there were never more than six weeks that we spent apart? I drive him crazy at the best of times."

"An' that's why yeh've bin keepin' yeh loneliness to yehself, is it?" he asked and the doubt was clearly evident in his voice and on his face.

"Kind of," she admitted. There was some truth in what she had just told Hagrid because she did not want to think that her entire life had revolved around Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and that it was destined to continue that way forever. She needed to be her own person, too. She needed to be seen as Hermione Granger – the girl who conquered her nightmares and was a person in her own right. Unfortunately, all that the past two months had shown her to be was a scary, bossy, know-it-all Head Girl who missed her friends deeply.

Hagrid eyed her suspiciously and then suddenly asked, "Are yeh havin nightmares again?"

She looked directly at him in slight shock. "Why… why do you ask that?"

"Yeh look tired."

Hermione rubbed at her eyes subconsciously although she had noticed the large bags which were forming and growing larger day by day. She was not sure if she was ready to admit to anyone that she was in fact having her nightmares again. They were not quite as bad as they had been over the summer, but Hermione still awoke mid-scream and drenched in sweat a couple of nights a week. No one heard her because she was using the _Muffliato_ charm every night just as a precaution. They had started up again after the incident with the Slytherin students and always seemed to be slightly worse on a day when she had an encounter with them. Pansy Parkinson seemed to be waging some sort of personal war on Hermione, but only fought when there was no one else nearby. Normally Hermione would have been able to shake off the comments made, but despite her growth in her year away from Hogwarts, Hermione was less able to respond to Pansy's slurs now. The Slytherin knew exactly what to say to hurt Hermione. It was normally comments regarding her friends not being at school with her, about her being alone, about Harry and Ron enjoying their new lives without her. It was all stupid petty stuff that Hermione was not only used to but also knew was said to hurt her without there being truth in reality. Pansy's voice echoed through her mind when she was alone in her dormitory. Then there were the accidental pushes as she walked down a corridor. One such incident had happened the day after the seventh year Muggle Studies trip into London. Hermione had enjoyed the trip, excelling at blending in with the Muggles. Most of the students had passed the trip and given good grades by Professor MacDonald, except the majority of the Slytherin students. Hermione had even persuaded the professor to allow her to visit her parents for lunch and she had enjoyed catching them up on her life. Pansy had not been pleased with what she called the _'pointless waste of time'_. Apparently, all of the Slytherin girls were fighting that element of Pansy's war. Just after the trip, Hermione had been a pinball between Millicent Bulstrode, Daphne Greengrass, Pansy and the wall. The altercation had ended with Hermione dropping her books to the floor and bruises along both arms. The Slytherin girls had left her dishevelled and kneeling on the floor, cackling like a stereotypical coven of witches.

She forced a smile onto her face, hoping that it would cover the lie. "No, I just have a lot of studying to do. I keep staying up late trying to get my essays finished." Hermione felt bad at lying to Hagrid, but then she also constantly felt bad at lying in her letters to Ron. She could not tell Hagrid the truth when she was still lying to her boyfriend.

"Final year o' N.E.W.T can be difficul'," Hagrid agreed. "I heard that Draco Malfoy's always in th' library studyin'."

Hermione nodded her head in agreement as she picked up her cup of tea again. "Hagrid, the other night I had a whole conversation with Malfoy! This place has gone crazy!"


	10. Festive Fears

**Chapter ten: Festive Fears**

It was the night before Christmas and all through the Burrow everything was stirring because it was packed to the rafters with guests. Molly Weasley was in her element as she rallied around after everyone. Nobody had any problem with her fussing as everyone knew that she was doing it to keep her mind from the painful reality of the first Christmas without one of her children. Everyone was painfully aware of the truth and the fact that not since the summer had everyone been home at the Weasleys'. Ron was unsure of whether to consider himself lucky or not because he was the least fussed over of all the other house guests. He, of course, still lived with his parents whereas everyone else had moved out or was still at Hogwarts so they were new cannon fodder for his mum's attention. He enjoyed watching her fuss over everyone and helping her through her rare quiet moments. Ron seemed to be the only one who would notice when she would disappear into the kitchen in search of a top-up of a drink or nibbles and take a bit longer than was needed. Every night he had wandered into the kitchen to see his heartbroken mum staring at the family clock which no longer had Fred on it. He would put his arms around her and smile at her until she was ready to return to the living room with more drinks or food. She always hugged him and kissed his cheek first though, showing him her appreciation.

Christmas had officially started four days earlier when he had gone alone to collect Ginny and Hermione from King's Cross station. His father had been busy at work and his mum had busied herself giving the Burrow one final tidy before the guests all started arriving. Ron had still had to go to work because George was determined to not close the shop until Christmas Eve. Hermione had understood that Ron would not be around during the day and she had declared that she was happy enough to have him around in the evenings. The day after Hogwarts had finished for the Christmas holidays, Fleur and Bill had arrived. Fleur had immediately started annoying Molly by rearranging and altering everything that Molly did. Ron had come home from work on the second day of the holiday to an almighty row between his mother and sister-in-law. As he had stepped out of the fireplace to the screaming shouts, Hermione had beckoned him to the stairs. He had snuck up them quietly and joined Hermione and his sister in their bedroom laughing about their sister-in-law. Ron found it odd that after a summer of sharing his bedroom with Hermione rather than Harry it was now back to how it had always been. Hermione was sharing with Ginny whilst Harry would bunk in with Ron when he arrived for his holidays. Ron and Hermione had taken advantage of Harry not being around for the first few days by spending quality time alone.

On day three of the holidays, Percy had arrived as the Ministry had given everyone a few extra days off work. Ron found this highly annoying because it meant that not only did every other member of the house not have to get up in the morning but this then included his own father. Ron had spent day three and Christmas Eve being the only one in the house needing to get up to go to work and all because of his git of a brother. Charlie had arrived later in the day with Mrs Tonks and Teddy Lupin only an hour behind them. It had been a shock for Ron as when he had awoken and gone to work there were only six people in the Burrow but on his return from work there were an extra four people. Not long after Molly had served dinner last night, Harry had arrived to everyone's pleasure. Harry had hugged everyone hello before settling down on the sofa with Teddy in his lap. Once Teddy had fallen asleep, Harry and Ginny had retreated to her bedroom as they had not seen each other since September. Ron was fully aware that it was a bit of a sore point as Harry had promised to visit Ginny on her first Hogsmeade weekend, but had not been allowed out from his training. The members of the Weasley family were all very good at holding grudges.

Ron had spent the night before Christmas Eve sitting in his family living room with only Fred and George missing much to his mum's horror. Ron had promised to bring George home on Christmas Eve, however, as soon as they closed the shop. He was home earlier than normal as George had agreed that Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes could close early due to the holiday. Unfortunately, Ron stepped further into the Burrow from the fireplace alone because George had refused to come with him. He walked into the kitchen and was glad to find that neither of his parents were in the room. Instead it was just Hermione, Harry and Ginny who were all seated around the kitchen table talking. Harry was the first to spot Ron.

"Hey mate," he greeted and the girls turned to look at him. "What's up with you?" he asked. "You look like someone's stolen Christmas."

"Hang on," Ginny said getting to her feet and looking at Ron accusingly. "Where's George?"

Ron tried to not let his gaze fall to the floor in shame; he tried to keep his eyes on his sister and friends. "He refused."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Keep your voice down, mate," Ron hissed, glancing around to see if his mum was approaching. "Where's mum?"

"She's upstairs changing everyone's bed-sheets," Ginny rolled her eyes at her mother's obsessiveness. "What do you mean that he refused though?"

"He said, 'let's close up then' so we did. Then I said 'you coming home?' and he said 'not yet'. So I tried to argue with him and he walked off into his bedroom. What was I supposed to do? Drag him through the Floo? He would have broken free and ended up who knows where."

Ginny shook her head. "You should have tried."

"I did! It's not that easy, you know," Ron argued. "Being around him all the time. I have no idea what to say or how to try and make him feel at least a little bit better. He barely even comes back here for dinner."

"I know," Ginny argued, "you should make him more often. Mum's really unhappy that she barely ever gets to see him."

"How is it my fault?" Ron demanded, his face reddening with anger as Hermione and Harry uncomfortably watched as the siblings argued. "I try my bloody best with him. You try spending most of your day with him and then with mum and then you try helping every damn git around."

"What's all the yelling about?" Bill asked as he and Charlie entered the room. "Hang on, where's George?"

"Ron couldn't even manage to bring him home for Christmas."

"Ginny, that isn't fair," Hermione objected.

"You would stick up for him."

"Ginny…" Harry tried to calm his girlfriend whose face was equally as red as Ron's.

"Fine, everyone gang up on me!"

"Do you think it's that easy for him?" Ron demanded. "Coming back here? Didn't any of you have any worries about coming home?" Everyone remained silent. In a calmer voice, Ron spoke, "It's our first Christmas without Fred and nothing I could have done would have made George return sooner. We just have to trust that he will arrive at some point."

"Mum'll do her nut," Charlie said as he stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets and rocked backwards and forwards on the heels of his feet.

Bill took a step further into the room and in a hushed voice spoke to all of them at once. "Right, Fleur, Mrs Tonks and Teddy are in the living room oblivious to all this noise because they've gone gaga over Teddy playing with his toys." He turned to Charlie. "You and I will go and drag our git of a little brother home and force him to play happy families for Christmas." Charlie nodded. "You four," he turned to the youngest four, "you can tell Fleur where we are, but try and keep it from the others and do your best at keeping mum from knowing anything."

"I guess that'll by my job!" Ginny declared.

"And Ginny," Bill said as he and Charlie moved towards the fireplace, "don't make me force you to play happy families." Bill and Charlie left the Burrow in search of George and Ginny crossed her arms before glaring at the other three.

"I'll go see to mum then." And she stormed off.

Ron stood there unaware of what Harry and Hermione were doing. He got a glass and filled it with water from the tap and took a few sips as he stared out of the kitchen window. The sun had already set and all he could see in the window was his own reflection. In the past three months all he had wanted was for his family to come home, for there to be other people in the Burrow other than just him and his parents. The pain emanating from his parents had decreased over time, but it was obvious that it was merely simmering just under the surface. He had been looking forward to Christmas, but also worried about it. Everyone was highly strung and Ron felt like a failure now that he had angered his sister, failed with his brother and could be blamed for ruining all of Christmas.

"Ron," Hermione said quietly, "it isn't your fault." He looked at the reflection of her and Harry in the darkened window and saw that they were both sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Everyone's going to find Christmas hard this year," Harry said, "George especially."

Ron turned around to face his friends. "Mate, Ginny's going to hate you even more."

Harry shrugged. "She's just worried about Christmas, too. She'll calm down."

"So, Harry," Hermione asked, "how is Auror training going?"

Ron pulled out a chair next to Harry and sat down next to him as the three of them fell into normal conversation as if they had not spent the past three months apart. Ron had not only been worried about what the first Christmas would be like, but he was also concerned about what it would be like having his two best friends home. Not since before their hunt had they spent time like this together. Ever since Dumbledore had died, their time alone had been in mourning or in hiding and this was going to be the first week that things would be anything like normal between them. Ron had little idea about how different his friendship with Harry would be now. Things were so different for all of them. Was Harry still his best-friend now that he was also Ginny's boyfriend? It was the longest time apart that the three of them had gone through in years and Ron could only hope that things would be normal. So far the three of them had been almost normal. They spent more time in pairs; Ron with Hermione and Harry with Ginny, but they did also spend time all together. Hermione and Harry had spent some time talking which Ron thought was very good. He did not want any element of the four of them to change significantly just because of romantic relationships. Ever since his relationship with Lavender had affected his friendship with Hermione, Ron had been concerned that any romantic relationship he had with Hermione could affect their friendships. With Harry, his worry was that they had spent time apart and could have grown apart. Harry was experiencing so many new things in his life and Ron was not a part of that. He worried for the friendship between Harry and Hermione and knew that they needed quality time together as best friends. Hermione and Harry had always filled a role for each other that Ron could not and he had accepted that; he knew that they needed each other and sometimes would pick each other over him. It was the same as how he would sometimes pick Harry over her. It had only been for a few days, but Ron's fears were lifting as they sat around the kitchen table talking as they had always been able to.


	11. Family Festivities

**Chapter Eleven: Family Festivities**

Hermione stared into the bedroom which used to be Percy's and moved towards the house guest who was sleeping soundly in the room. Sometimes she felt sorry for Percy because he always seemed to be giving up his bedroom, but then Molly could not keep every room for all of her children after they moved out. Ron, Ginny and George still had their childhood bedrooms and Bill had reclaimed his for the Christmas holiday, but Percy and Charlie were sharing Charlie's old bedroom. Nobody was sure if George was going to sleep in his childhood bedroom because he had not since before Fred's death. It saddened Hermione to think that when she woke up tomorrow, it would be Christmas Day and there would be no Fred. At least George had made it to the Burrow in time for dinner and neither Molly nor Arthur realised that there had been a problem. Hermione, Ron and Harry had still been sitting in the kitchen talking when the two eldest Weasley boys had returned with George. They did pretty much drag him out of the Floo and shove him towards a kitchen chair. George had grinned at the others in the way that only Fred or George could, but Hermione did not believe it was genuine. Before anyone could ask George why he was late or ask the brothers how they had persuaded him to return, Percy had entered the room declaring that Arthur was on his way.

Percy had been outside with Arthur, helping him with the Muggle items in his shed and bonding, when Ron had returned to the Burrow without George. Ron had gone out to tell Percy to keep his father occupied until Bill and Charlie could return with George. Soon after Percy and Arthur had entered the kitchen, Molly and Ginny returned from making all of the beds in the house. Molly had been in the middle of a conversation with her daughter, but had stopped mid-sentence upon seeing her son. She had made George sit next to her during dinner and kept her attention on him completely throughout the meal. As the meal had ended, Hermione had seen the look on George's face as he was forced to sit with his mother in the living room and it dawned on her his reasons for not wanting to return to the Burrow for Christmas. Ron had told her that George seemed to be doing better and to be coping, but no one had any idea what it would be like for him to spend time back in the Burrow without his twin and on Christmas day, too. Everyone was already very highly strung with regards to the festive period and it was bound to bring up everyone's memories of past years.

Hermione was not sure of how the Weasleys' had spent Christmas last year, but she had spent Christmas Eve in Godric's Hollow with Harry. She was very glad that instead of being there she was inside the safety of the Burrow. She looked at the sleeping child in Percy's bedroom, thinking about how it was Teddy's first ever Christmas. She was not sure that he really knew what was going on, but he seemed to love all of the extra attention.

"Hey, getting broody?"

Hermione turned and saw Harry standing in the doorway. She smiled and took a few steps to stand next to him, slightly further away from Teddy. Keeping her voice low so as not to wake Teddy, Hermione replied, "No, I was just thinking about where we were this time last year and how this is his first Christmas."

"I believe this time last year, you were busy breaking my wand," he joked.

"Cheeky git," she remarked with a grin and Harry laughed.

"You've been around Ron a bit too much."

"Not enough more like."

He nodded his head in understanding. "How is Hogwarts?"

Hermione wrote to Harry at least once a week and whereas she kept her loneliness hidden from Ron in her letters and conversations, she wrote all about them to Harry. It was Christmas, however, and she was not about to start wallowing in sadness about how lonely she was in school. She really needed this Christmas break and despite the fact that everyone else was fearful of the pain that the day would bring, Hermione was hopeful that being around those she loved would keep her going until Easter. "It's okay."

"Liar."

"Harry," she objected, "it's Christmas. I really don't want to discuss how awful school is, or how much I miss having you and Ron around, or how Parkinson and her 'friends' are bullying me in such a Muggle way."

"I'd suggest a little curse or two," Harry smiled at her and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"That's the thing," she countered, "they just say things and accidentally bump into me. None of them have even come close to brandishing their wands. I can't use magic without provocation or justification and they're not going to give me that."

"Because they know that you're better than them."

Hermione rested her head against Harry's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Doesn't help though, does it?" he asked and she shook her head against his shoulder. "I used to hate it at the Dursleys' when they would pick on me and make me do things that I hated. It was a constant harassment, but the whole time I knew that I was better than them. I always had hope that something would change and then I found out who I was and I knew that I just had to wait a few years and cope with a few holidays." Harry paused, thinking and Hermione waited. "I know for you it's the other way around – you have the holidays as Heaven and school with the bullies, but you're stronger than me."

"No, Harry, no I'm not."

"How many times have you rescued me, Hermione?" He continued without letting her answer. "I know that you won't use magic until they do first and then you'll win. You are still the same girl who slapped Malfoy, right?"

She moved her head to look at him with a smile on her face. "I had a civil conversation with Malfoy the other week."

"What?" Harry asked incredulously. His voice was a bit too loud and Teddy stirred and gurgled a bit, but did not awaken.

Hermione nodded. "In the library. And, he hasn't been involved in any of the bullying tactics of the others."

"Maybe some people can change," Harry mumbled.

"Maybe," Hermione agreed.

"Dudley's been in contact with me," he said. "Not his parents, but he has been. He hasn't mentioned the years of abuse he gave me, but we've been talking. I reckon he's changed."

"He didn't pick his parents or chose how they brought him up," Hermione remarked. She knew that it was not that simple, but that there was also truth in the statement. Nobody could help who they were brought up by and for a lot of children their main role models were their parents, but genetics also played a part. There was definitely a trend for Dudley being like his parents, Draco like his and Ginny like hers. "And then," Hermione whispered looking at Teddy again, "there are those that get no parents."

Harry approached his God-son and stroked his head very gently. "Teddy may be an orphan, but at least he'll be brought up by people who love him, at least he'll know who his parents were and he won't be tortured by people who were supposed to love him."

"You didn't turn out too bad either, Harry."

"No, I guess not." He paused, heading back to the doorway and closing the door so that Teddy could sleep in peace. "And I had the same role models as Dudley."

"Exactly," Hermione agreed before yawning. "Oh dear," she remarked. "Can you let Ginny know that I've gone to bed early and that I'll see everyone in the morning?"

Harry agreed and started walking down the stairs before he turned back to her. "This is your first Christmas Day at the Burrow, isn't it?"

"Yes, why?"

"Oh," he shook his head, "nothing."

Hermione continued on to the bedroom she shared with Ginny and was quickly ready for bed. She was not sure what Harry had meant by his last comment, but she was sure that there was nothing to worry about. She was pretty used to the Weasley way and she was sure that she would love whatever traditions they had for Christmas day. Hermione was simply relieved that she was no longer lonely and that she had people she loved surrounding her. She was also aware that it was the second Christmas in a row that she had not seen her own parents, but that was why she and Ron were visiting them from Boxing Day until New Year's Eve. She did want to see her parents on Christmas Day and they had remarked that they would miss her, but they also understood that Molly needed Ron at home. Molly had graciously invited the Grangers to Christmas dinner, but they had declined saying that they were simply moving the day to a few days later to share it with Hermione and Ron. With thoughts of the new experiences she and Ron were about to have, Hermione fell asleep very quickly.

Hermione was awoken very suddenly and opened her eyes immediately. Leaning over her and with her face right in Hermione's was Ginny who was yelling that it was Christmas over and over. As an only child, no-one had ever awoken Hermione on Christmas morning and the fact that Ginny's face was only inches away from hers made her more than a little bit scared.

"Good," Ginny said, standing up straight, "you're awake." Hermione sat up as Ginny put her dressing gown on and threw Hermione's at her. "Come on, missy, it's Christmas and we've got presents to open!" Ginny opened the bedroom door and glanced back at Hermione who was still sitting in her bed in shock. "Earth to Hermione, no-one in this house gets to open their presents until everyone is downstairs. So, up!" she commanded.

Hermione swung her legs over onto the floor as her brain tried to process what was going on all around it. She could hear fast footsteps outside of the bedroom and Hermione saw flashes of red running past the door. Each flash said 'Merry Christmas' without even pausing. Ginny followed her brothers in a run down the stairs and Hermione remained where she was trying to remember how to put her dressing gown on. She was sure that one of the red blurs had been Ron, but she could not be sure.

"Morning," Harry said from the doorway.

"Is it?" she asked as she finally got her dressing gown on and stood up. "You don't seem to have the Weasley excitement."

"Not yet, but once we're down there we both will." She looked at him sceptically as they walked down the stairs. "Trust me. I know that my experiences are biased, but Christmases with the Weasleys' are amazing. Miles better than Christmases at Hogwarts."

Hermione entered the living room and Harry soon left her side to take a seat on the floor. Sitting on the sofa were Molly, Arthur and Andromeda whilst Fleur and Bill were sitting on the armchairs. On the floor near to Molly was Ginny and George, Charlie and Ron were closer to Bill and Harry had sat down near to Andromeda and had taken Teddy from her for a hug. Everyone was opening their presents in a very haphazard way and Hermione did not know who to watch first. She was used to a much more sedate affair where she and her parents took turns in opening their presents. This was nothing like that. In fact the only people not opening presents were Molly and Arthur who seemed to be watching all of their children at once.

"Merry Christmas, Hermione," Molly said as she held out a present to her.

Hermione blushed as she leaned over Ginny to take the present. She then sat down near to Ginny and continued to look all around her, trying to take in the chaotic scene. Harry was helping Teddy to open a present and Hermione realised that it was a present for Harry. Teddy was giggling furiously as he pulled and ripped at the colourful paper and Hermione assumed that Harry was going to allow the child to open all of his own presents. Bill and Fleur exchanged presents and began to un-wrap them, each smiling and laughing at what the other had bought them. She noticed that George was comparing something with his father and seemed in good spirits and that Percy was not yet with them all, but it had not stopped them all starting to open their presents. Hermione then watched as Ginny stood and walked over to where Ron was seated, already playing a game with Charlie.

"Here you go," she said, handing her older brother a present.

He took it from her and started to open it. "Thanks," he smiled as he looked at the annual on the Chudley Cannons. "I love it."

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean what I said," she apologised.

He grinned at her and pulled her down for a hug. "Silly git."

Hermione smiled as she watched Ginny try to pull away from Ron whilst he refused to let her go.

"Hermione, dear," Molly said and Hermione looked at her, "you are supposed to open the present."

"Oh, yes. Sorry," she apologised and started to open the present. She realised as she started carefully unwrapping the paper, not tearing at it like everyone else, that everyone had gone silent except for Teddy. Hermione glanced up and noticed that everyone was watching her intently.

"You can rip it," George joked and Hermione blushed even redder.

"Yeah, come on, open it!" Ginny demanded, now sitting next to Ron after finally breaking free from the hug.

Hermione removed the gift from the paper and uncurled the material. She realised instantly what it was and tears welled in her eyes. Without hesitation, Hermione stood and launched herself at Molly, hugging her fiercely. "Thank you so much."

"Of course, dear."

Hermione sat back down on the floor and admired her new Weasley jumper. "I absolutely love it!" she declared.

"We all 'ave one," Fleur said and Hermione glanced around to see everyone holding one up, including Andromeda who was also holding Teddy's up. Hermione could not tell from Fleur's tone if she was happy at having a jumper of her own or not.

Everyone continued opening their presents in chaos as Hermione put her jumper on, noting how much better a knitter Molly was than she. Hermione was still practicing whilst making random items of clothing for the school's house-elves. She had been aware of the tradition for Molly to make all of her children a jumper for Christmas, but this was the first time that she had received one and she felt truly honoured. After everything that she had been through in the past year, Hermione was incredibly thankful for being considered a member of the Weasley family. She turned to see Ron sitting down next to her and hugged him back as he pulled her into a hug.

"Merry Christmas," he whispered into her ear.

"And good morning."

"Here," he said as he presented her with a small wrapped present. She carefully un-wrapped the box and knew that it was a jewellery box. She glanced at him before opening the box and inside saw a necklace with a locket on it. "It's for you to put a picture of me in it," he said, taking the necklace from the box and undoing the clasp. "And then you'll have me with you always," he finished as he put the necklace around her neck and did it up.

Hermione held the locket in her fingers and looked at it, fresh tears welling in her eyes at the love she felt that others had for her. "I love it, Ron," she whispered as she kissed him and then hugged him again.

"Good. By the way," he added still whispering into her ear, "you look damn sexy in that jumper."

She began to blush, but before she could say anything else Percy came running into the room shouting "Mum" at the top of his lungs. Ron and Hermione pulled apart and everyone turned to Percy who was standing in front of everyone.

"What?" everyone said at once.

"It's snowing!" he declared and in a flash every red-haired child in the room was on their feet and by the front door. They were pushing their siblings out of the way with not a word of apology. Their manners had been left behind in their mad dash for the door. Hermione watched in amazement as Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, Ron and Ginny each competed to put on their wellington boots, coats, hats and gloves and then raced out of the door. Molly and Arthur were laughing to themselves as they only waited a few moments before they followed their children in a much calmer fashion, but soon they had disappeared outside too. Hermione shared confused looks with Harry, Fleur and Andromeda.

"I 'ave never seen zis," Fleur said remaining in her seat and looking as shocked and confused as Hermione felt.

Ron's head suddenly appeared in the doorway, his hat covered in snowflakes. "Come on, you guys!" he demanded and he ran off again.

Hermione looked at Harry and she shrugged her shoulders. He nodded at her and passed Teddy back to Andromeda. Together they walked towards the door and started putting their coats and wellington boots on. They went about this task in a much calmer fashion than the Weasleys had and more hesitantly than Molly and Arthur. As they stepped out into the cold Christmas morning air it became obvious what the Weasleys were so excited about. Hermione could not help but laugh as she watched the five Weasley boys and Ginny running around and throwing snow balls at each other. She watched as Bill and Percy engaged in a constant throwing of any bit of snow they could get their hands on. One of them would run a few meters and pause to get more snow. As they did so the other would hit them with a snowball and then turn and run off. They were engaged in quite a little cycle. Close to them were Charlie and Ron ganging up on Ginny and pelting her with snow with so much speed that all she could do was cover her face and let it happen.

"Dad!" Ginny screamed for help and covertly Arthur threw a snowball at his sons which in mid-air split into two to hit both of them. Ginny took the moment of freedom to start running for a nearby tree and a small element of a shield.

Arthur grinned as his sons glared at him until a snowball hit Arthur straight in the face. Ron fell about laughing and slipped onto the snowy cold floor. Arthur turned to see his wife mock-glaring at him.

"No magic, dear," she reminded him as she threw another snowball at him.

Hermione laughed at Molly and Arthur and then her eye caught a very fast red blur who was running in between everyone, targeting anyone at all. It was George and whilst everyone else was in their own little battle, no one was aiming for him. Until he threw a snowball at Ginny, who was already fighting off Charlie and Ron again, and Harry ran over throwing snowballs at all three of them.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Three on one isn't fair!"

George threw a snowball and hit Harry right in the face. "And what are you going to do about it, Boy Who Lived?"

Harry threw another snowball at George, but missed because of the elder's speed.

"Sorry," George joked, "I didn't hear that." George held his hand up to his missing ear and laughed just as a snowball hit him on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Don't pick on my boyfriend," Ginny yelled pelting George with more snowballs.

Hermione's laugh at the scene in front of her was cut short as she suddenly felt something hit her on the top of her head and then cold water dripping down her back. She looked up and saw Charlie grinning at her. Simultaneously, she and Ron threw snowballs in retaliation at Charlie, hitting Charlie on either side of his head.

After more than half of an hour of running around throwing snowballs, rolling around on the cold floor and laughing so hard that her stomach hurt, Hermione was glad when Molly called for everyone to get back inside as she had to get started on making Christmas lunch. The heat within the Burrow hit Hermione as she entered the room and she felt both freezing cold and boiling hot at the same time. Despite having worn gloves, the snow had seeped through them to make her hands feel like they were frozen whilst her body was sweating from the exertion. Harry was soon telling Andromeda stories about the mass snowball fight whilst Bill and Charlie were telling Fleur who had remained inside the whole time with Andromeda.

From across the room Percy called over to Fleur, "Why didn't you come and join us?"

Bill chose to answer for his wife which caused everyone to pay attention. "We should have told you sooner." He paused. "We were going to tell you all at dinner today, but we've known for a while. We just… We wanted to wait to share the good news-"

"We are 'aving a baby!" Fleur declared, preventing her husband from finishing his explanation.

Molly was the first to squeal in delight as she stepped over people sitting on the floor to hug her son and daughter-in-law. "I'm going to be a Grandmother!" Everyone seemed to forget their cold, wet extremities and instead joined in a complete family hug as everyone congratulated Bill and Fleur on the first Weasley that was going to be born after the War.


	12. Returning to Hogwarts

**Chapter Twelve: Returning to Hogwarts**

Ron walked into the main entrance of Hogwarts and despite the fact that he had not been there in over four months, Ron paid no attention to his surroundings. He was glad that it had been Filch who had met him at the main gate because Filch had not tried to have a conversation with him. Ron was very preoccupied and on a mission to get to the Gryffindor common room. He ignored the people in the corridors and exiting the Great Hall, failing to process who any of them were. He was vaguely aware, as he started up the stairs, of some gasps from some people and murmurs of his name. Ron really could not care about anyone else at the moment. His legs had grown significantly since he had last really walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room and he was taking three at a time. He had been due to visit Hogwarts on the next weekend for Valentines so his current visit was unexpected by everyone. He had not planned on visiting this weekend, but then he had received a letter from Hermione and he had Apparated to Hogsmeade almost immediately. Ron had not even had dinner yet, but nothing else mattered after the troubling letter he had received.

It was just over a month since he had last seen Hermione which Ron had not thought was that long. They had spent just under a week at the Burrow and then part of the week after Christmas with the Grangers before returning to Hogsmeade for New Year's Eve. In total it had been a solid two weeks, which was the longest period of time since August and before school had begun. Ron had missed his girlfriend over the past five weeks, but he was also prepared to wait one more week for their planned meeting. He had started growing concerned on Monday when he did not receive a letter from her and it had not been until today, Friday, that his owl had delivered a letter from her. It had been difficult to get a full conversation out of her during their Floo conversations as well; Hermione had been late in calling him, very brief and too busy to talk for long. Ron had been worried all week long, but tried to put it to the back of his mind.

There had been the thoughts that she was just really busy with school work and Ron knew that she normally put one hundred per cent of her attention to her school work. He also knew that the exams would be coming up soon and she would have extra studying given that her first N.E.W.T year had been over a year beforehand. Unfortunately, he could not stop the thoughts that she was growing away from him. No matter what reassurances he received when he was with her or how he did know deep down that she loved him and that they were made for each other, Ron still worried that they were both living completely separate lives and he worried what that could mean for their future. She was experiencing new things, learning new skills and strengthening the friendships that he had once had too. Meanwhile Ron was sitting at home with his parents on an evening and working with his brother during the day. He had not formed new friendships or learnt anything new other than how to keep the shelves stocked at the shop. Ron was enjoying his job, but ever since Monday he had been worrying that his life was moving further and further away from Hermione and that was why she had stopped writing him. In some ways that was all that could explain why she also had no time to even have a decent conversation with him.

His father had tried to reassure him that it was probably just exam stress, but Ron was not fully convinced. Arthur had only been made aware that there was a problem because he had sensitively asked his son why the Floo conversations that week had become so short. Ron assumed that his mother had sent him, but he appreciated both of their concern. He could only hope that it was a simple case of exam pressure, but the letter he had received that evening had not bolstered his hope. He had only been home a few minutes with the letter had dropped to the table. It was in Hermione's quick writing, which was only slightly messier than her normal but miles tidier than Ron's. It was a very short letter and Ron had Apparated without a word to his parents. Hermione had written that she needed to speak with him and that it could not wait another week. There had been no "Love Hermione" at the end, just her name and it concerned Ron. He had no idea what she needed to speak to him about, nor why it was so urgent and it had him incredibly concerned. There could be no good reason that she needed to see him so urgently. It was either because there was a problem between the two of them, or because she was having a problem of her own and needed him.

Ron reached the entrance to the Gryffindor common room and the Fat Lady immediately smiled at him.

"Hello Mr Weasley," the Fat Lady greeted him.

"Dumbledore," he said. The password had been given to just him and Harry and would last all year to ensure that the pair of them could always access the common room.

"Of course," she said and opened the hatch straight away which pleased Ron incredibly. He really did not want to have to speak with her right now when all he wanted to do was get into the common room.

Once in the common room, Ron came face to face with some of the other Gryffindor's, but none of the top three years. It suddenly dawned on Ron that he had not thought this plan through fully. He was in the common room, but he had only assumed that Hermione would be in here. He had no idea if she was. In fact she may be in her dormitory which he had no hope of getting to. Ron looked around at all of the younger students who were all staring at him with their mouths wide open. There were a few girls sitting near the fire. He approached them, trying to ignore that everyone's eyes followed him as he walked.

"Hey," he said, "any chance one of you girls could go upstairs and see if Hermione's up there?"

"I will!" a boy sitting next to the girls piped up with a large grin on his face. Ron had the immediate impression of the Creevey brothers.

"Sorry, mate," Ron explained, "only girls can go into the girls' dormitory." He turned to the girls. "So will any of you?"

The one in the middle of the them nodded her head whilst blushing and made her way up the stairs. It seemed to Ron like an eternity before the girl came back with Hermione close behind her.

"Ron!" she exclaimed in shock as if she had not been expecting him. "What are you doing here?" she asked as the pair of them moved over to a corner of the room in a small attempt at privacy.

"I got your letter so I came straight away." Her shock was confusing Ron even more so.

"Oh," Hermione whispered as if his reasons were suddenly dawning on her. "I thought you wouldn't get it until tomorrow. I didn't realise that you'd get here tonight."

"Is there a problem that I am?" he asked. "You said that you needed to see me and couldn't wait another week. Isn't it good that I'm here tonight?"

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry it's just that…" Her sentence drifted off as she looked around the room. "Let's go… somewhere more private."

He did not answer her – he neither agreed with her suggestion nor disagreed with it. He had raced here to see her because she needed to see him and now she seemed to be hesitating. Ron felt as if maybe it was not quite as important as she had suggested, or that she was now nervous to speak with him. That immediately made him think of his doubts and of how they had been growing apart since September despite their closeness over Christmas. He followed behind her silently through the halls of Hogwarts worrying that she was nervous and wanted privacy so that she could break up with him. He was so consumed within his thoughts that he did not pay attention to where Hermione was leading him until she spoke a password at the prefect bathroom. She checked that there was no one else in the bathroom and then, using her wand, cast a charm on the door to prevent it from being opened from the outside.

They turned to each other and both stood in silence. Ron did not want to start the conversation if it truly was as bad as his worst fears were and Hermione stood there looking incredibly nervous and almost scared. Ron tried to battle through his deep seated fears and bit the bullet to question her. If she had been acting normally all week long by writing and talking regularly before summoning him here, the thoughts of an imminent break-up would not have occurred. He had battled for so long with his insecurities, but the past few days they had crept back in. He hoped that his faith was correct.

"Why did you need to see me so urgently?" he asked with a slight harshness to his voice. He did not want to be guarded, but his guard was up. She looked so scared that his heart softened and before she could answer, Ron stepped towards her and said, "What's wrong?"

"Ron, do you love me?" she asked out of the blue.

"Of course I do," he replied without a second's hesitation. "You know that, don't you?"

She nodded, but looked as if she were about to cry. All doubts and worries fled his mind and Ron hugged Hermione in an attempt to soothe her before she pulled away and said, "I need to tell you something and I need to know that you're really in this relationship, that this isn't some post-war fling."

"Of course this isn't some spur of the moment, comfort thing." He took her hands and placed them on his chest, his larger hands covering hers. "Hermione Granger, you have my heart and it's yours forever." Tears welled up in her eyes again and Ron could only stand there and hope it was out of happiness. "Hermione, please, what is wrong? I've been worried all week that you've come to your senses and you don't want to be with me, that it was all just the heat of the battle."

Hermione shook her head almost violently. "No. never."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I'm late," she paused. "My period – it's late."


	13. Fathers and Sons

**Chapter Thirteen: Fathers and Sons.**

Ron and Hermione Apparated into the garden of the Burrow tightly holding hands and both of them were filled with nerves. Ron took a step forward, but felt Hermione pull at him as she did not step with him. He turned to her, squeezed her hand and smiled at her. He was trying to reassure her, but he doubted that it was working. He did not feel very reassured, however he knew that coming to the Burrow was the only answer. Ron had not said much at first when Hermione had told him that her period was late. When he had finally found his tongue, Ron had asked her the only questions that could come to mind: Was she sure? How late was she? And what should they do? Hermione had replied that she was just over a week late and that she had no idea what to do. Ron was not sure when Hermione had ever been lost as to what action to take. It left him to figure out what they should do. His only plan of action involved going to his parents. He tried not to think of it as 'running' to his parents, but turning to the only people he knew could help him. It had occurred to him during Apparition that they could have gone to Bill and Fleur's for advice. It had caused the journey to be bumpier than normal and Ron was hoping that Hermione assumed it to be his nerves. With his head now a bit clearer, Ron realised that Shell Cottage was a bad idea because Fleur was pregnant and that might make Hermione even more upset. His mum always knew what to do and Ron hoped that this time was no different.

"Come on," he said softly, trying to encourage Hermione to follow him into the Burrow.

"You're sure about this?" she asked whilst still refusing to move.

"Yeah," he nodded, however he knew that he did not sound very sure. He had considered that maybe his father was a better bet and more likely to be less angry, but his mum would be more practical and know what to do. Although considering the anger that his mum would show, maybe having his dad in the room too would prevent anyone from dying. Ron remembered how excited Molly had been on Christmas day when Fleur had announced that there was going to be a new Weasley come May and he severely doubted that his mum would be as excited to find out that her youngest son may be becoming a father in September.

"What do you think she's going to say?" Hermione asked timidly.

"I don't know," Ron admitted with a shrug. "Hopefully something useful."

"Do you think that she'll be disappointed with us?" Hermione asked.

Ron shook his head slowly as the word 'disappointment' echoed through his brain. He had never thought about his mum being disappointed with them for their problem, just that she would be angry and shout at them. Now he was even more nervous and he was happy for Hermione to be stalling. "Maybe," he finally admitted, "but she'll at least help us. Come on," he repeated, stealing his own nerves to walk into his home.

They found Molly Weasley in the kitchen chopping up vegetables and she immediately heard them and turned as they entered the room. She looked shocked for a second, but then started talking as she continued her job. "I thought you were staying at Hogwarts, dear? Never mind, I can make tea for two extra," Molly said busily chopping without allowing either of them to answer her question. "To what do we owe the pleasure of both of you?" This time she did not continue speaking, instead allowing one of them to answer.

"Um, mum," Ron said as his voice quivered nervously. Molly did not pause in her chopping. "Mum?"

"Yes, dear?" Molly asked still chopping.

"Um, mum, Hermione and I, well…" Ron could not say what he needed to say. Now that he was in the moment, Ron had no idea what sentence he was even trying to say.

"My period's late, Mrs Weasley," Hermione said in a voice that seemed a hundred times louder than Ron's own had been. Her unusual timid voice from moments ago outside the Burrow had been replaced by her normal voice. Ron could only assume that she was faking it and putting up a front of bravado.

Molly stopped in her chopping as the knife clattered to the chopping board and a large piece of carrot flew across the counter-top and onto the floor. Slowly, Molly turned to face her son and Ron had never seen such a look upon his mother's face. Molly glared at them with such anger and Ron really wanted to go running from the room. He wanted to hide in his bed as he had done many times during his childhood after evoking his mother's anger. Ron considered that to still be an option if it were not for Hermione's hand in his. Squeezing her hand to reassure both her and him, Ron opened his mouth to speak but his mother beat him to it. "You're what?"

"My period is late." Hermione's voice seemed very calm and strong to which Ron was amazed. He wanted to crack under his mother's gaze alone yet Hermione had such a calm outward appearance. Ron had no idea how the woman he loved was able to remain like this under such pressure.

"Christmas," Molly shook her head, "under my roof. How could the two of you?" she demanded. "You're both too young for this. You've barely had any life." She shook her head again in disdain. "You both should have controlled your hormones for a few more years." She looked at Ron and said, "You could have had a career, anything, freedom from this." She lifted her arms up and indicated the Burrow before turning to Hermione. "And you, young lady, you are so clever and talented. How could the pair of you have been so stupid?"

"Wait a second," Ron objected. He had no idea from where he summoned the courage to stand up to his mum in such a way, but he managed it. Part of Ron knew that what his mother was saying was true, however he also knew that he was an adult in his own right no matter what mistakes may have occurred. "Don't speak like that to Hermione. It was an accident, mum, and we need your help not for you to shout at us."

"You're children, Ron, so I can shout at you all I want!"

"We faced death, mum. Fought in the battle of our lives and watched people die all around us. We're not children."

"Ron," Hermione said, "this isn't getting us anywhere." She squeezed his hand and said, "Why don't you go and help your dad whilst your mum and I talk?"

Ron looked at Hermione and she nodded. He then looked at his mum, trying to judge if Hermione would survive being alone with her and although there was still a stern look of anger on her face, Molly nodded too. He had a desire to kiss her on her forehead, but thought it a bad idea with his mother's current mood. He settled with simply walking from the room with a smile to Hermione as he did so. He had not meant to shout at his mum and had not arrived with the intention to. Fear filled his body and he could not fully control how he was reacting because of it. Ron made his way out of the house and towards his father's shed, which was his first thought of where he could be. That was always the best bet as to where to find Arthur because he loved his Muggle artefact collection. Ron would have preferred to have spoken to his father about all of this but had doubted his practicality with regards as to what Hermione needed. At the moment, Hermione's period was merely late and she needed to know, along with Ron, whether or not her period was simply delayed or if they were going to have a child. That thought alone made Ron more scared than Aragog had ever made him.

Hesitantly Ron pushed open the door to the shed and did not see his father straight away. Ron could hear mumbling and some cursing coming from behind some scrap pieces of metal in the middle of the small room and he moved slightly to peer around the scrap. Arthur was sitting on the floor, trying to attach two pieces of scrap metal together.

"What you doing, dad?" Ron asked, trying not to surprise his father.

"Ron," Arthur said, "thought you weren't home this weekend. Never mind," he shook his head. "Have you told your mum that she needs to make more for tea?" Arthur continued fiddling with the scrap metal, but he appeared to be unaware of how they connected together.

"Yes," Ron answered. "What you doing?" he repeated.

"Trying to fix Sirius' motorcycle. " Arthur continued fiddling with the scrap metal, seemingly oblivious to his son's presence except he said, "So what does bring you back this weekend? I thought you'd gone to sort out things with Hermione when you vanished?"

"She's inside talking with mum."

Arthur looked up at Ron, pausing in his fiddling. "Is everything alright, son?"

Ron shook his head and began pacing as much as he could in the confined space. "Her period's late, dad, and I have no idea what's going on."

"Oh," he replied and Ron could not help but smile wryly at this. He had been correct in thinking that his father would not be angry with them, but that he also would not have any practical advice. "Your mum'll sort it out," he promised.

"But, dad, what if she is… what if we are…?"

"Then you deal with it, son. You're a Weasley."

"I'm too young." Conversely to the argument Ron had used against his mother, Ron knew that he and Hermione were too young to be having a child and that neither of them had managed to achieve anything in life. She was in school and he was working for his brother in something that could be permanent, but that might not be because he had not yet made that decision. Neither Ron nor Hermione were in the right place for the future to happen, nor were they ready for a future which involved immediate children.

"If, and I say if, Hermione is pregnant then the two of you will deal with it. You have your mum and me and I'm sure that her parents will help too. I'm not sure how well they'd cope with a half-blood grandchild to look after because they can be a bit more of a handful than a Muggle-born witch. But it'll only need a bit of an adjustment. I'm sure that Molly was planning on helping Fleur and Bill's child so another one won't change it that much…" Arthur continued talking, but Ron could not take in any of what he was saying. Ron did not want to think about what Arthur was saying. He hoped more than anything that Hermione's period was simply late, but he had not dared say that to her. Ron had no career planned, no security for a family or a fully defined list of life-goals. Not that any goals would be able to be achieved if he and Hermione were about to become parents. He felt worse for what it would do to Hermione's life. She was so amazing and gifted that all Ron could think was that it would ruin her life. Deep down Ron had always feared that he was not good enough for Hermione and chaining her to a baby's cot was a spectacular way to ruin an amazing girl's life.

After Arthur had seemed to stop talking, although he may have simply been taking a breath, Ron blurted, "But, dad, I have no career prospects, I'm not ready and I'm barely able to look after myself! I can't look after her and raise a child!"

"Nonsense," Arthur scolded harsher than Ron had expected. "You're a Weasley and we always manage. As long as you have Hermione, that's all that you need. We make do with nothing if needs be, so you listen to me, son, everything will be fine."

The funny thing was that Ron believed him and took comfort from his father's words and the hug that Arthur then gave him. Hugging his father back, Ron knew that everything would be fine no matter what happened.


	14. Mothers and Daughters

**Chapter Fourteen: Mothers and Daughters**

Trying to cling onto her new found strength, Hermione stood opposite Molly Weasley – the matriarch of the Weasley family, the woman who kept her children and husband under control and all together – and she found herself more scared than when she had first come face to face with Death Eaters in battle. Inside, Hermione still felt like a timid little field mouse, but somehow she was able to keep her back straight and look Molly in the eyes. She understood what Molly was saying about their lives and their impending futures. She could hardly believe that just over six months ago, Hermione had sat on the porch of the Burrow wondering about the normal future which lay ahead of them all. This had never been an option that she had figured into the equation. She was only nineteen, yet Ron was still eighteen and they were both too young to become parents. Hermione was not fully sure how it occurred in the Magical community, but she did know that in the Muggle community, teen pregnancies were frowned upon. Teenage pregnancies did happen in the Muggle world to normal people, but Hermione had never imagined that it would ever happen to her. She had always wanted to be married with a good job and stability. As a child, Hermione had always felt stability surrounding her although she had seen other children with very little stability in their lives. All that Hermione kept thinking was that she was neither ready nor could she provide for a child.

"How late is your period?" Molly asked. Hermione could not describe her question as demanding or harsh, but it was more than a request.

"Eight days."

"And can I assume that you and my son were using some sort of protection?"

Hermione nodded. Soon after the war was over, Hermione and Ron had visited her parents in their undercover life to return them to being 'The Grangers'. They had only stayed a few nights, but Hermione had taken that opportunity to talk to her mother about contraception. In Muggle schools, sex education was taught in schools, but it was not covered in any of her years at Hogwarts. As such, Hermione had relied on her mother. Ever since then she had been on the contraceptive pill. "I don't know about magically, but I'm taking a pill which regulates my hormones and stops me ovulating."

"It's the same for us, dear," Molly said in a nicer tone than anything else she had said. "There's no magical way to prevent a pregnancy, just a human way and we are all human." Molly looked at Hermione as if seeing her in a vulnerable way and the younger lady hoped that Molly's anger was fading. "You haven't missed any of them?" Hermione shook her head. "You haven't taken any medical remedies that may have interfered with it?" Again, Hermione shook her head. "Well then, maybe you haven't been quite as irresponsible as I might have thought." Hermione nodded at the woman she respected greatly, knowing that it was the closest she was going to get to an apology at the moment. "Let me ask you something, Hermione," Molly said, "do you love my son?"

Hermione did not even hesitate. "Yes, yes I do. Since the first year at Hogwarts, your son has been my best friend. He stood up for me against Malfoy and he comforted me after my nightmares when I was petrified. Ron was the one who helped me when I had my first period and I fell in love with him." She paused as she knew she wanted to bear her heart to Molly, but she was scared. Forcing herself Hermione said, "But I am really scared." Her hands started absently fiddling with the locket hanging from her neck. It had been her Christmas present from Ron and she had put her favourite picture of him within it. "I'm still at school and I want a career. I'm passionate about House-Elf rights and once I have my N.E.W.T.s I can actively try and make things better for them. Not if I have a child though." She paused again. "If I have a child now, how can I have a future outside of that child? I've never lived anywhere apart from under my parents care and that of Hogwarts. How am I supposed to raise a child if I'm not sure how to look after myself?"

"Are children something that you want in the future?" Molly asked.

"Yes," Hermione admitted. "When I know that I can look after them. When I can provide for them and they would have stability." She could feel tears welling in her eyes and Hermione desperately wanted an answer. She wanted to know if her future was now or if it was still unwritten. "I can't read the future," she admitted. "I hated Divination classes and dropped them as soon as I could."

"There's a potion we can buy which will give you the answer in just a few minutes." Molly paused in thought. "But the shops are already closed for the night so we'll have to wait until tomorrow. I used to have quite a supply in the house," Molly laughed. "But I haven't had the need of them in a few years. Trust me when I say that I know how you're feeling right now."

"Thank you," Hermione said taking a small amount of comfort from her words.

"Everything'll be okay," Molly reassured her but Hermione could already feel fresh tears welling. "If you are pregnant then Arthur and I will help you. You can move into the Burrow and Floo into Hogwarts for lessons. I've raised enough of my own children to help out with a grandchild or two. Ron can stay at George's shop so at least he'll always have a job because it seems to be thriving. Weasleys always survive no matter the circumstance, just you remember that." Molly paused and looked Hermione straight in the eye incredibly seriously. "Red hair's a certainty though."

Hermione smiled and laughed very slightly at Molly's attempt at alleviating the mood. "Thank you. I'm just… I'm really scared." Rapidly her laughing became crying and the tears that she had been holding inside of her all week came flowing from her eyes. For just over a week, Hermione had been constantly worried and unable to focus on anything else. She was glad that she was so far ahead with her school work because she had not managed to do any for the past seven days. Hermione also felt incredibly bad that she had blanked Ron and not written him during that time. She had been so distressed at the thought that her period was late that she had not known what to say to him. Her period had been a few days late before so she had not wanted to worry Ron. Then when her period was more than three days late, Hermione had not known how to tell Ron by letter or Floo conversation that she may be pregnant. She knew that he would have been worried and that it was harsh, but she had panicked. Hermione had tried to ignore it somewhat in the hope that her period would start out of the blue before she could bring Ron into it. She had been lying to him about enough during her past year at Hogwarts that keeping her missed period from him for a few days did not seem that bad.

Molly moved across the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Hermione, attempting to comfort her.

"I'm sorry," Hermione wailed. "We've been careful and now I've ruined your son's life."

"Ssh, now," Molly calmed, stroking Hermione's head. "Accidents happen to everyone and no-one's life is ruined." Hermione tried to believe what Molly was saying, but she could not. Her entire year at Hogwarts had been going down-hill since the first day she arrived in September. She was friendless, bullied, lonely and now possibly pregnant. Hermione never thought she would desire to return to the hunt for Horcruxes with Harry and Ron again, but after how badly this year was going she was beginning to. Hermione was incredibly grateful that none of the Slytherin students had tried anything all week long because she feared that she would have been caught completely off-guard; much to their delight. She would also have to thank Neville when she got back to school because he had taken all of their Head girl and boy duties due to her distraction. Neville was the only person to have realised that she was not acting like herself all week. Deep down, Hermione knew that Ginny would have done if it had not been for all of the Quidditch practicing she had been doing. The week's distress and panic had increased Hermione's feelings of loneliness as no one noticed her preoccupation. Hermione had never desired to be the centre of attention with anyone, in fact sometimes Ron's attention on her was too much and alien to her, but she never wanted to be this far out of people's views. It had occurred to her one evening over the past week, whilst in the prefect toilets crying over her possible situation, that she could faint or become locked in a cubicle and it would be hours before anyone came to her rescue. At least in first year when she had been crying in a toilet, Harry and Ron had known where she was when the Troll had attacked, and that was before they had become the friends they now were. "Come on, dear," Molly said after an age and pulling away. "Dry your eyes." Molly used her thumbs to help wipe at Hermione's cheeks. "The boys will be in soon for their dinner and we can't have you crying, can we?"

Hermione shook her head. "It's still not definite until we use the potion tomorrow, is it?"

"Exactly. You might be worrying over nothing. Now," Molly said moving back to the food preparation, "finish the carrots for me, please." Hermione went straight to the chopping board and happily finished Molly's job which she and Ron had interrupted. Not long after, Arthur and Ron had come in and less than an hour later they had all eaten their dinner without a mention of why Hermione was visiting for the weekend. Molly had then insisted that she and Arthur would tidy up so that Hermione could have an early night if she so needed it. Hermione had happily accepted because somewhere during the meal she had relaxed and tiredness had quickly overcome her. Since mid-September Hermione had problems sleeping and the past week's stress had made sleeping a much bigger issue. Hermione hoped that finally feeling a little bit less stressed and more relaxed would allow her to sleep easy. As she had left the kitchen to go to bed early, Molly had informed her and Ron that they could share the same room seeing as 'the damage might already be done'. Instantly, Hermione knew that she would sleep fine so she had gone straight to Ron's room and got ready for bed.

Hermione was just about to lie down and go to sleep when Ron gently knocked on the door and then entered the room. She smiled at him and said, "Why did you knock? It's your room."

He shrugged as he sat down next to her. "I love you, you know that, right?" She nodded. "Good, and everything's going to be okay. We're going to be fine no matter what happens tomorrow."

"I'm not quite on that thought yet, but I'm feeling better. I love you, too." They both sat there, Hermione in one of Ron's t-shirts and the duvet over her legs and Ron sitting fully dressed on the edge of the bed. He took hold of her hands and they remained sitting in silence as he played with her fingers until she whispered, "Your mum says that Weasleys' are always fine."

Ron nodded and Hermione met his eyes. "Just look at all of us," he said. "One income, seven kids and no house-elf. Yet we're still one of the most prominent Wizarding lines. And we all fought in the battles, every single one of their kids. Think of those genes mixed with your beauty and intelligence." They both laughed slightly. "Our kid'll be amazing! Unstoppable!"

Hermione laughed, playfully swatted his arm and knew that everything was going to be okay. Whether they had a child now or at a more suitable point in the future, they would be okay and so would their child. She hugged him briefly before settling down for the night's sleep with the hope that the test tomorrow would be negative.


	15. Screaming Lies

**Chapter Fifteen: Screaming Lies**

Ron awoke suddenly, sitting upright in his bed. His pulse was racing and his breathing was faster than normal which he could only put down to the fact that he had awoken so suddenly. His bedroom was still dark and there was silence all around him. He could not even hear any noise coming from outside of the Burrow. Calming his breathing and pulse rate, Ron turned and punched his pillow a couple of times to try and get it back into the correct shape for sleeping. There was still not a sound anywhere that he could hear and he wondered again what could have awoken him. He could not remember having a nightmare, but it was the only possible answer. He had spent a few nights in February having very weird dreams about becoming a father and screaming babies surrounding him which always woke him up. The dreams had soon passed when Ron calmed down regarding his and Hermione's pregnancy scare. He could still feel the relief as it had flooded through his body as Hermione had taken a potion to confirm if she was pregnant and then telling him that she was not. They were too young to become parents. Closing his eyes, he tried to ignore the nagging curiosity of what had disturbed his sleep and he tried to go back to sleep. He rolled onto his side so that his back was to the wall and as he felt his body getting heavier and sleep washing over him, Ron heard what he could only describe as an ear-splitting scream. It had come from downstairs and Ron knew that, because it was the Easter holidays, Ginny and Hermione were asleep in Ginny's bedroom. He knew that it was Hermione's scream. Immediately, he threw the duvet off himself and swung his legs over the bed. He was at his bedroom door before another scream pierced the house. Ron could have sworn that he felt the walls shake with the force of the scream, but he was running so fast down the stairs that he could not be sure. As he approached his sister's bedroom door his fear that it was Hermione screaming was confirmed when he heard his sister yell out loud.

"Mum! Dad!" Ginny sounded incredibly worried and it made Ron even more disturbed. He burst into their room and was blinded by the light on in there. "Ron," Ginny said at a normal level. "I can't wake her!"

Hermione was lying in her bed, thrashing around and the covers half fallen onto the floor. Ron had never seen her have a nightmare like this before. She had only screamed that loudly when she was being tortured by Bellatrix in Malfoy Manor and Ron had been trapped in the basement. He thought it had been bad enough to hear those pained screams trapped a floor beneath her, but as she lay on the bed screaming whilst he stood there helpless Ron considered it was pretty much worse this time to actually see her screaming. He approached her and gently put his hands on her shoulders. He did not want to scare her in her current state, but he had to try something to wake her up.

"Hermione," he said gently but loud enough that she would hear. She gave no indication that she had heard him and continued writhing and moaning. He barely even heard as his parents entered the room, only noticing when Molly knelt down by his side. "Mum, she won't wake up." Hermione screamed again and tears sprung to Ron's eyes. "Hermione, please!"

"Ginny, what happened?" Molly asked, glancing over at her daughter.

"I woke up as she screamed. She hasn't said anything, just screamed."

"Hermione," Ron pleaded, gently shaking her. "Ginny," he turned to his sister whilst keeping his hands on Hermione. "Has she been having nightmares at school?" he asked. His hands were gently stroking her shoulders even though he was not looking at her. Ginny was standing near to the doorway, next to Arthur and she looked petrified of what was happening in her bedroom.

Ginny shook her head. "I haven't heard anything." She paused and then whispered, "But Harry asked me to keep an eye on her."

"What?" Ron asked trying to keep his voice calm.

"On Valentine's weekend when I last saw him, he asked me to keep an eye on her and the Slytherin students. But he never said anything about nightmares."

Ron had no idea what she meant about Slytherin students and as far as he was aware she had not been having nightmares. Hermione had not had any nightmares over the Christmas period that they spent together or the weekend they had spent in the Burrow in February when they had their pregnancy scare. "Mum," he pleaded again. There was sweat building up on Hermione's brow and she screamed again. Ron's blood curdled at the sound. He knew that this nightmare could not have come out of nowhere to be this extreme. He also knew why no-one else knew she was having them.

"Hermione, dear, wake up," Molly tried.

Suddenly Hermione screamed out Ron's name and sat bolt upright in the bed narrowly missing hitting Ron as he moved back a few inches. Now awake, Hermione's breathing was even faster than it had been whilst in the midst of her nightmare. "Ron," she whispered as tears started to fall down her face mixing with the sweat. Ron pulled her into his arms and held her tightly to his chest. One hand began to stroke her back whilst the other tangled into her hair, holding her head. He could feel her heart beating against his and, even though his had increased in tempo, her heart rate was racing significantly faster than his. She sobbed into his shoulder crook and began mumbling random words. He could only make out some of the words and not a complete sentence. "Bellatrix… You weren't… Torture," she sobbed. "You left… Pansy… _Muffliato_." He had no idea what her overall sentences were, but he was getting the gist of what she was admitting to him. As soon as Ginny had said that she had no idea regarding nightmares, Ron knew that Hermione would have been using the _Muffliato_ charm to keep it a secret. She had clearly been keeping a lot bottled up inside of her and now it was all tumbling out. "Bellatrix," she repeated, "Couldn't find you… You weren't… there…" She paused and pulled away from Ron a few centimetres to look him in the eye. "Ron, please don't leave me. Please don't, I can't cope," she pleaded and then her eyes closed and she fell into Ron's arms.

"Mum?" Ron questioned, looking at his mum with a panicked look on his face.

"It's alright, dear," Molly comforted. "Just lie her back down." Ron complied with his mother's request and looked at Hermione's peaceful face on her pillow. "She's just fallen asleep." Ron nodded without taking his eyes from her as her breathing returned to that of a normal sleeping pattern, her nightmare completely lost from her unconscious mind.

He continued to stroke her cheek, hoping against anything that she never had a nightmare like that one again. It made him wonder how long she had been having them at Hogwarts and if they were that bad. Then it made him question why she had not told him. He knew that it had taken a while to tell him about her late period, but that was because she had been waiting for an opportunity to see him and tell him in person. Depending on how long she could have been having nightmares, Ron wondered what the reason was that she had not yet told him about them. It made him consider the fact that there might be other things that she had failed to tell him. Ron looked back across at his mum, worry and fear still on his face. She smiled comfortingly at him, but Ron did not take much comfort from her. "Mum," he whispered in fear of waking Hermione, "can I stay in here tonight, with her?"

She smiled at him again, getting to her feet. "Of course you can, son." She stroked his cheek and then kissed him on the top of his head before leaving the room with Arthur and Ginny. Ron assumed that Ginny was going to his bedroom as he made himself a bit more comfortable sitting next to Hermione. He did not want to go to sleep; he wanted to remain awake in case Hermione awoke again. Ron was not sure what time it was or how long he had been sitting and watching Hermione sleeping, but she began to stir and opened her eyes, seeing him straight away.

"Ron?" she questioned in a quiet voice as she sat up in front of him.

"Ssh," he comforted, "it's okay. Go back to sleep."

"What are you doing in here?" she asked, ignoring his request. She looked around the room as if trying to remember in what room she was. "Where's Ginny?"

"Up in my room," he answered as he took hold of her hand. "I think you forgot the _Muffliato_ charm tonight." Her face instantly paled as she looked down at the duvet trying to avoid Ron's eyes.

"What happened?" she whispered in embarrassment.

"You were screaming. No one could wake you up. You eventually stopped, hugged me whilst muttering stuff and then fell asleep again." Despite all of his questions, Ron did not want to push her. She had her reasons for keeping things from him and he was not going to force her.

"Did I wake everyone?" she asked and when Ron nodded she winced. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" he asked. She met his eyes again and he could see shame and embarrassment shining in the tears they held. "You really scared me," he admitted in a whisper again. "I've only heard you scream like that once before."

She threw herself forward into him and they both immediately wrapped their arms around each other. After a long time, Hermione pulled away from him again and took a deep breath. "The nightmares are getting worse," she admitted. "They started months ago, but I've never had any when I've been here or at home. I didn't think I'd have any these holidays either. I should have told you."

He nodded. "What happens in them?" he asked.

She hesitated before squeezing his hands and then began, "I'm in Malfoy Manor and Bellatrix is… using the curses on me. I scream in pain, then for help and then for you. Normally, I see you running toward me as Bellatrix throws another curse and I wake up screaming and drenched in sweat."

"When you woke up this time, you told me that I wasn't there and that you couldn't cope without me." He wanted to tell her how she had mentioned Slytherin students by name, but he wanted to see if she would admit to everything or if she was just giving him answers.

"Recently," she started, "you haven't been there, running to rescue me." She paused and took a few deep and long breaths. "Things have been really tough this year, Ron. I miss you and Harry so much and Hogwarts is… awful without the two of you. Some Slytherin students have been… bullying me, in a good old Muggle kind of way. I think that in my nightmares of Malfoy manor, elements from now are creeping in." She paused again and then looked Ron in the eye. "I'm so sorry for not telling you. Please don't be angry with me. I couldn't bear it."

"Hermione, I'm not angry with you," he promised. "I'm worried about you. If you didn't want to talk to me because I'd worry or threaten to come and curse all Slytherins, who have you been speaking to? Because Ginny didn't know about your nightmares." He was dreading her answer to his question.

"Harry and Hagrid know a bit, but no one knows everything or about the nightmares."

That was exactly what he had feared – that she had kept everything bottled up. "No wonder it's all been coming out in your nightmares, Hermione. You can't keep everything inside."

"But, Ron, no one there cares about me. No one even notices me. The only reason why I ever got noticed before was because of you and Harry. It was you two who knew I was in the toilets when the Troll attacked and if one attacked now, it'd get me because no one would think of me until they realised they had spent days without Little Miss Know It All around. Everyone continued with their lives last year, Ron, and they all moved on. It's not the same class as when we were there."

He hugged her and stroked her back as she started quietly sobbing into his shoulder. He had had no idea that school had been so awful for her without him and Harry there. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" he asked in a calm voice.

She looked at him in confusion. "Why don't you sound angry?"

"Why would I be angry? You're upset Hermione, and I just want to try and make it better."

"I was worried," she admitted. "I thought that if I told you how terribly lonely I felt and what the Slytherins were up to that you'd abandon everything and enrol for your final year. I didn't want you making that life decision because of me."

He nodded and understood what she was saying. He probably would have abandoned his brother and parents to go and be with her and try and make her feel better. He had felt lonely over the past year because his two best friends were both off and doing something with their life, preparing for their futures whilst he was spending a year with his brother and never seeing anyone other than his family on a day to day basis. It had never occurred to him that things would have been difficult for Hermione because she had always loved being at Hogwarts so much. Everything had changed a lot in the past year or two, he realised. Now it was time for Hermione to tell him everything so that hopefully the nightmares would go away again. "So," he sighed, "what have the Slytherins been doing? And if Malfoy has done anything…" he threatened as he made himself comfortable on the bed, waiting to be caught up with all of Hermione's truths.


	16. End of Term Excitement

**Chapter Sixteen: End of Term Excitement**

Hermione could not contain her excitement as she stood watching the final Quidditch match of the season, bouncing up and down on the spot. The bouncing was partly from her excitement and partly because she had forgotten to grab a jumper or coat and had misjudged the April temperatures. She was so glad that the final year was almost over and that soon she could start her grown up life. Her revision timetable was all fully planned out, although she had allowed herself this weekend off due to the inevitable celebrations. Not only were Gryffindor in the Quidditch final, versus Hufflepuff, but both Harry and Ron had returned for it and they were both spending the entire weekend. For Ron it was because ever since Easter he had made more effort in physically visiting Hermione as often as possible. They barely spoke by Floo anymore because he visited at least twice a week for the evening or for the day if it was the weekend. Hermione was greatly touched by his actions and she realised that she should have been up front with him a lot earlier. It was not wrong for her to want to try and deal with things on her own, but she knew that she should have asked him for help a long time ago. Ron was also visiting this weekend to proudly watch Ginny lead her team to victory, hopefully, as was Harry although Hermione could see it on both of their faces that they would both prefer to be playing than watching from the side-lines. Hermione still had no great passion for watching Quidditch, but she was not about to complain when she had a best friend on either side of her and that even if Gryffindor lost, she would still be happy. It was quite surreal after the past few years to be standing in the Gryffindor stands with all of her usual classmates. Dean and Seamus were standing next to Ron whilst next to Harry were Neville, Parvati and Lavender. Hermione had still not spent much time with Parvati throughout the school year, but since Lavender's return in January Hermione had spoken with her a few times. Lavender's lasting injuries from Fenrir's attack were similar to those Bill Weasley had – she was not a werewolf, but she did still bear some scars. Her fellow Gryffindor was quieter than normal, but had regained some of her bubbly effervescence in the past four months. Hermione found Lavender a lot less annoying than she had been, but the girl still needed help and guidance because of her injuries. Ron was going to get Bill to contact her in a few days and see if he could offer his help.

Harry and Ron both winced at something on the Quidditch pitch and Hermione forced herself to pay some attention. Someone whizzed past them so fast that Hermione had no idea who it was, but she did hear Ron call whoever it was a 'tosser' and she gently elbowed him. Ron took a moment from watching the game to smile an apology but very quickly returned his attention to the Quidditch match. Hermione leaned forward as everyone else did so, trying to see what was happening on the far side of the Quidditch pitch. Ginny, playing as Seeker, looked like she had something in her sights. The Hufflepuff Seeker was not far behind her though. Hermione was not sure who the Seeker for Hufflepuff was. They were a fourth year boy and Hermione suspected that he was about to be beaten to the Snitch by Ginny. Sure enough within seconds the Gryffindor crowd went wild with cheers. Harry and Ron each yelled and began whistling and clapping from beside Hermione and she could not contain an even bigger smile at the victory.

"Come on," Ron said over the noise a few minutes later, "let's get back to the common room and decorate it before they all get there!"

Harry and Hermione both nodded at him and fought their way through the crowds to make it to their dormitory before any of the younger students. As they reached the bottom of the stands, Luna's voice came over the announcement system declaring that Ginny had caught the Snitch and that she '_thought'_ Gryffindor had won the cup. The three friends laughed at Luna's commentary and continued their journey. They entered the entrance hall and already saw students in there and in the Great Hall which was odd as Hermione thought everyone was out watching the Quidditch. At the large door to the Great Hall, the three of them paused. Harry moved towards the commemorative plaque that he had unveiled months ago and Hermione followed him.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked looking at Harry's very serious face.

"Just thinking of all of those people," he replied. His eyes moved to the lower section of the plaque, where it honoured Severus Snape. "I still can't believe how hard it was to get his name put on this."

"There was only your word for it," Hermione replied. She knew that it had taken him a while to convince Kingsley that Snape had always been following Dumbledore's orders, but as soon as Kingsley had agreed he refused to accept arguments from any other Ministry member. Harry had felt that after all the other battles he had fought in – with the Ministry and with Voldemort – he did not need another fight with the Ministry over the headmaster who had always remained true to Lily Potter. "And at least he is on it now."

"Only Slytherin name on there," Ron remarked before he started wandering around the entrance hall. "Blimey, the wankers are all in here!"

Hermione turned toward Ron who was looking into the Great Hall. "Who?" Harry asked whilst Hermione glared at her boyfriend.

"Language, Ronald!" she chastised.

"All of the Slytherins," Ron answered, grinning into the Great Hall. "They must have refused to go to the Quidditch final because they didn't make it." Ron laughed and then walked back to Hermione and Harry.

"Ron," Hermione chastised, "I wish you wouldn't pick on them whenever you visit. Some of the younger Slytherin students are still finding it difficult to know what's right and wrong." She was also concerned that if Ron pushed things too far, it would be her that suffered the retaliation.

"Some of them still using _Crucio_?" Harry asked and Hermione nodded.

"Not just Slytherins either. Some repeating first years from the other houses keep forgetting, which you can't blame them for given that's what they learnt last year. Come on," she said and started walking up the large staircase. Harry walked by her side whilst Ron remained a few steps behind as he peered nosily around their surroundings more than the other two. As they reached the top of one set of stairs, Hermione and Harry both suddenly stopped walking and Ron stopped one step beneath them, but was able to tower above Hermione to see who was standing in front of them. Hermione had not encountered Pansy Parkinson or any of the other Slytherins outside of class since the Easter holidays which in some ways Hermione had been disappointed with. Since Easter and with the increased presence of Ron around, Hermione had felt her old confidence increasing and had wanted to come face to face with Pansy or one of her cronies. She had relished the idea of them saying something to her and Hermione then being able to give as good as she got. It was the same confidence that had been present whenever she had stood up for herself in front of Malfoy or Pansy before. Hermione had never agreed with violence, but she did keep having thoughts of punching Pansy like she had slapped Malfoy.

Now Pansy and Goyle stood quietly in front of the three of them and a small part of Hermione hoped that they would say something and it was not because she was backed up by her friends. She did not want Harry or Ron to help her fight back against her bullies, but she did want them to see her fight back against them even if it was just to see that she was fine and coping. Just as they were too cowardly to use magic against her inside of Hogwarts, Pansy was also too cowardly to say or do anything in front of all three of them. Either that or she was too clever to risk it. Instead, Pansy moved to one side to allow the three Gryffindors past. Goyle hesitated, but after receiving a look from Pansy he did reluctantly move aside. Hermione and the boys moved into single file to pass the two Slytherins and as they did Pansy whispered, "We'll get you on your own."

Hermione stopped, level with Pansy and smiled innocently at her. "I can't wait you vicious, twisted hag." Pansy made a slight movement towards Hermione which made Hermione laugh as she continued past them both. When the three of them had gone up a few more stairs, Hermione turned to her friends and linked arms with both of them. "I'm going to be fine." Hermione was excited about her last few weeks at Hogwarts and nothing could bring her down.


	17. Counting Chickens

_Note: Bas language in this chapter!_

**Chapter Seventeen: Counting Chickens**

It was almost the end of her final year at school and Hermione should have been nothing but excited. She had survived her worst year at Hogwarts, she had an internship at the Ministry lined up to start a few weeks into July and later on that afternoon Ron was arriving to spend the last few days of term with the rest of the Gryffindor students. As such, Hermione had awoken thinking that nothing could make her feel any better after her final exam which was Defence Against the Dark Arts so should be a complete walk through. Hermione had spent the past few weeks studying intently for her exams in the library as the Gryffindor common room was rarely ever silent. Most other seventh and fifth year students were there too, each of them revising for their O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s until Madam Pince kicked them all out. Normally, Hermione would then walk back to Gryffindor tower with the other Gryffindor's and therefore avoid Pansy Parkinson or any other Slytherin. On random nights as she left the library, Hermione would be greeted by Ron standing by the door, waiting for her. It was always on a day when there was no exam the next day so that Hermione could spend some of the day with Ron before he had to return to work and she had to get back to studying. It helped that Ron was working on the new Hogsmeade branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It was due to open in August, but there was a lot of work needed on it before then.

Everything over the past few months since Easter meant that nothing should have been able to ruin Hermione's good mood except that she had underestimated one small element at Hogwarts. Less than a month ago, Ron had come running all the way from the shop to tell Ginny and Hermione that Fleur had given birth to the first Weasley grandchild and that it was a girl. Hermione had been busy organising an event to be held in the great hall to celebrate the year anniversary of the Final Battle when Ron had arrived with the good news. Ginny had been given permission to go home for the night, missing the year celebration but joining in the Weasley celebrations. Hermione had tried to make Ron return home, too, but he had wanted to be in Hogwarts for the year anniversary. It was such an important part of their life that he did not want to be anywhere else. Hermione had been glad that he was staying and secretly relieved that Victoire had been born on May second so that she did not have to go the Burrow immediately. Whilst she had recovered from the shock of her pregnancy scare, Hermione still felt reluctant to visit Fleur, Bill and Victoire. It had caused Hermione to have a slight downturn in mood especially given the sadness of the day. Hermione had thrown herself back into studying the day after and had considered ignorance to be bliss. She and Ron had discussed their scare and baby Victoire which had lead Ron to admit that every time he saw Victoire he thought of the child that one day they would have together. Hermione had smiled and thrown her arms around him in a hug at his statement. She had truly never felt better or happier and she knew that in a few weeks she would be leaving Hogwarts to spend a few weeks helping Ron at the new branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes before her internship started. She was looking forward to the few weeks living with Ron whilst not in a boarding school or on the run and living in a tent with no clean water in which to bathe.

All that she had to get through to get to that point was her current predicament. Hermione had sat her final exam and had been on her way back to Gryffindor tower when she had found herself walking past a part of the school that had not been rebuilt yet. Hermione had paused to consider the damage which still existed in the healing school, just as in people's lives there were still damaged and healed parts no matter how healed the exterior appeared. Unfortunately, some people were incredibly damaged on the interior by the war and that was why Hermione now found herself standing in front of a very angry Pansy Parkinson and very aware that there was no one else around. Pansy had not said anything to Hermione yet, nor had she drawn her wand. She was simply standing in front of Hermione, her arms crossed and she looked as if she was not going to let Hermione move past her. Pansy was simply glaring at Hermione with a wicked smile on her face.

She had to admit that an element of fear had built within her, but Hermione knew that Pansy was just a school bully who was nothing at all when compared to Bellatrix. Straightening her back, Hermione made herself appear taller and said, "What do you want, Pansy?"

"I thought it was about time that we sorted things out."

"Things?" Hermione questioned. "What things?"

"I've spent years hating you, just wishing that you'd leave. Then you finally did and last year was the happiest year I've ever had at Hogwarts. My only wish then was that I could have practiced the new skills I learnt on you. But then, someone else did _Crucio_ on you, right?" Hermione bristled at Pansy's question eliciting a smile from the Slytherin. "You're not the only one who knows everything around here." Hermione set her jaw to prevent any emotion from being shown on her face as she mentally filed away that Draco was a snivelling wimp who had kept no secrets for Hermione. "I know more than you think."

"Pansy, what is this about?" Hermione asked. "Why have you always hated me?" Hermione knew the answer; that it was because she was a Muggle-born.

Pansy laughed. "It used to simply be because you're a Muggle-born, Mudblood who stole another witch's powers for your own selfish reasons. How old were you when you realised that Muggles were so…" she searched for the word, "boring and futile? When did you realise that your own life was so meaningless? How long after that point did you decide to steal your powers? Or was it your parents' decision before you were even born?" Hermione knew that Pansy did not want answers to any of her questions which was good as Hermione did not have any. She had never heard such an amount of rubbish ever before in her life. "Are you aware of how disgusted you should be with your parents?"

"Whatever," Hermione said and made a move to pass Pansy, "I don't have time for this." Pansy stepped to the side, blocking Hermione from leaving the abandoned corridor.

"I haven't finished answering your question," she replied with a fake sweetness. Hermione crossed her arms against her chest, mirroring her bully. "Why is that I hate you so much?" Pansy asked herself. "Well, let's see. You're a dirty, filthy Mudblood who finally left giving me a blissful year without you. I relished everything I heard about your supposed triumphs and escapades with the other two," she snarled, "because I knew they were all lies and that you would never be allowed to return. That you'd be dead within the year."

"So sorry to disappoint, as clearly my escapades were all true and I'm still alive."

"The year isn't finished yet," Pansy threatened menacingly and Hermione's hand twitched. She hoped that she could draw her wand quicker than Pansy, but even so, Hermione knew that she was better at non-verbal magic than the bullying wimp in front of her. "Not only did you return though, but on the same night the entire school sided with you and your boyfriends over me and my house. If that isn't the greatest insult, then you trot back in for your final year. If you and your Gryffindors hadn't have come back that night, the rest of us would have graduated and left you behind, you'd have been out of my life once and for all."

Hermione had never considered quite how stupid Pansy was. The Slytherin girl really thought that a year at Hogwarts with the Carrows and Voldemort ruling was better than being taught fairly. "What about all the children that couldn't attend last year?"

"Like who?" Pansy demanded. "Other Mudbloods and those who've diluted their once proud families? Or Mudblood lovers who would rather exist in the Muggle world than ours? They don't deserve to attend Hogwarts, let alone graduate from it with N.E.W.T.s!" Pansy began pacing backwards and forwards in front of Hermione as if she was trying to control her anger with her pacing. Then she stopped abruptly directly in front of Hermione. Pansy's eyes were on fire with anger. "And then you," she snarled, pushing Hermione on the left shoulder with her right hand, "arrive back and become head of everything." She pushed Hermione again, each time Hermione took a step backwards with the force. "Two Gryffindors as Heads. Despicable in the wake of the war." She pushed Hermione again, this time with both hands and as Hermione staggered two steps backwards neither girl heard Hermione's wand clatter to the floor. "To top it all off," she pushed Hermione again, increasing the force, "Draco then wants nothing to do with me!"

It was this comment which made Hermione snap back. "Draco waking up and wanting nothing more to do with an evil, twisted hag like you has nothing to do with me whatsoever!" Hermione yelled back. "You haven't got off my back since the day that we started here and I haven't done anything. You're just a bully who's blaming everything on me for no reason other than blood status. We're adults now so you should grow up and join the real world. In which you will have to have contact with Muggles. Get over your own inadequacies and move on!"

"Why don't you move on and join little Freddie Weasley?" Pansy screamed, pushing Hermione again.

"You bitch!" Hermione screeched, pushing Pansy for the first time.

"Don't touch me, Mudblood Cow." Pansy shoved Hermione with a much greater force and it was as Hermione stumbled backwards that both girls realised they were on the edge of a piece of missing flooring. Pansy noticed this first and pushed Hermione again, causing the Gryffindor to lose her footing and fall through the hole, landing awkwardly on the floor below. Pansy glanced over the edge to assess the damage she had done. She noted that Hermione's eyes were closed and that she was lying awkwardly on her back. Pansy glanced behind her, checking that the corridor was still empty and then back down at Hermione. Hermione's eyes were now open, but dazed.

"Pansy," Hermione called, "Pansy help me."

Pansy shook her head and, walking quickly, she headed back down the damaged, out of bounds corridor and back to her basement common room. She ignored anyone past whom she walked, knowing that she needed to avoid as many people as possible and create an alibi for any possible repercussions of what she had just done. By the time Pansy had made it back to the corridor leading to the Slytherin common room, she was practically running full pelt through the entrance. Once inside her house sanctuary, Pansy paused and let out a long, deep breath. She had never done anything quite like what she had just done and it had not fully sunken in yet.

"Where you been?" Pansy turned sharply in shock and saw Goyle sitting on a sofa in front of her. "What's up with you?"

Pansy glanced around, checking that no one else was around before she told Goyle what had just happened. "You know our little Granger problem?" she asked and he nodded excitedly. "Well, I just sorted it." She wanted to sound happy and pleased, but there was something holding her back.

"What did you do?" he asked with a huge grin across his chubby face.

"She got a bit mouthy with me," Pansy admitted whilst still forcing her happiness slightly.

"Did you shut 'er up?" he asked and Pansy found that she was only able to nod a reply.

"What have you done, Parkinson?" Draco demanded from the other side of the room. Pansy had not seen him enter the room.

"What's it to do with you?" she asked.

"What have you done?" he repeated.

"Where's your house loyalty?" Pansy asked. "Sorry," she apologised, "you haven't been a Slytherin since you came back." Any doubt that Pansy had concerning what she had just done to Hermione evaporated in the instant that Draco seemed concerned for the Mudblood. "Sitting at the other end of the table and ignoring all of us. What happened to you?" she demanded.

"I've missed two years of school, what do you think I've been doing? What have you been doing?"

"None of your business, Malfoy," she spat and turned from him towards the girls' dormitory. She had never been happier at the prospect of leaving Hogwarts and Malfoy behind than as she walked away from him for the last time. Earlier in the year, Pansy had visited Draco's mother in an attempt to obtain her advice concerning Draco. Narcissa had not been of much help, although she had mentioned something about Hermione's torture in their house. Pansy had questioned Narcissa further on that, still hanging onto the hope that she could get through to Draco. It was clear now that there was no hope for Draco, and no hope for any relationship between the pair of them.


	18. A Lion and a Snake

**Chapter Eighteen: A Lion and a Snake**

Ron found himself semi-comfortably sitting at the large Gryffindor table in the great hall, eating lunch like he had done on numerous occasions before. At first, Ron had found it highly unusual to come back into Hogwarts and sit at the familiar table, surrounded by familiar faces and eating familiar food. For a long time, his first thought upon entering the hall was of the battles that had taken place and how he had seen the fallen lying in the middle. He still thought of his brother, Lupin, Tonks and the others when he entered the hall but he was also able to remember his other memories of the hall which occurred when he had still been a student. Ron was glad that he had chosen to not return for the final year and not just because his brother had needed him. It had been almost two months now that Ron had been working at the soon to open new branch of the shop and not watching over his brother. Time was indeed the greatest healer and Ron knew that George was not fully there yet, but that he was getting there. Ron had spent a lot more of the past two months in Hogwarts, for meals and the night despite how most of his friends were studying hard for exams. Ron was really enjoying working in the joke shop, so much so that he had still not made up his mind as to whether or not he was staying there or starting Auror training.

Over Christmas Harry had told the others many stories about his training and had made it sound incredibly interesting to Ron, but he had grown to really enjoy interacting with all the different people who came into the shop. Due to Hermione's exams, Ron had chosen to not discuss his future plans with her. He knew that she had an internship lined up at the Ministry and Ron had a feeling that she was going to remain there for her career and become part of Kingsley's 'new' Ministry along with Harry. Ron was not sure that was his future. He planned to leave it a few more days before broaching the subject with Hermione and gaining her advice. The studious part of Hermione would answer that he should train to be an Auror as then there would always be something for him to fall back on should the shop cease to be a success. However, the Hermione who had faced death and torture and lived on the run for a year would encourage him to do what he wanted and what would make him happiest. Ron was in Hogwarts today to meet Hermione after her final exam and then as soon as she was ready to leave the school for the final time, they were heading to the new branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in Hogsmeade. They had planned on staying there until Hermione's work placement, living as normal people do and they were both excited about the prospect. From there, neither of them had made any plans.

Ron laughed at something Dean said, along with the other sixth and seventh year Gryffindors around them and then took a mouthful of his pumpkin juice. Everyone was eating their puddings, having finished their main meal and they were all eating slowly as no one had anywhere to be that afternoon because all exams were finished; Hermione's Defence Against the Dark Arts was the final exam. Ron realised that there had been plenty of time since the exam finished and yet Hermione had not joined them. "Hey, has anyone seen Hermione?" he asked.

"No," Dean shook his head, along with most of the others.

"She did her practical part of the exam before me," Neville said. "Maybe she had to see headmistress McGonagall about something."

"Maybe she went straight back to the common room to pack?" Ginny offered.

Ron nodded absently. "Hermione knew I was meeting her here," he said slightly concerned as to where she was. He was aware of his own excitement at the prospect of spending the next few weeks working and living alone with her without the threat of Death Eaters or Voldemort around the corner. Despite this, Ron doubted that she would have gone and packed straight away just to speed up that moment where they would be alone in Hogsmeade, living as normal people. He was starting to get concerned. "I might go and see," he mumbled with a mouthful of pudding and he left the hall on a search for Hermione. As he started up the stairs, Ron paused at someone shouting him.

"Weasley," Malfoy shouted as he came up from the direction of the Slytherin common room.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked, not budging from the step he had gotten to, although he did turn around to ask his question.

"I just thought I should tell you," he paused obviously uncomfortable, "that I just overheard something."

"That's nice, Malfoy, real nice, but I'm not too interested in your gossip." Ron stepped up another step.

"It's about Granger. Or it might be."

Ron turned back around. "What? Where is she?"

Malfoy shrugged. "I heard Pansy saying that she's sorted Granger, but she wouldn't tell me anything else. Neither would Goyle."

"Sorted her?" Ron questioned, walking back down a few steps. "Sorted her, how?"

"I don't know," Malfoy repeated. "I'm sure that Granger's fine, I just wouldn't put anything past her."

"Or any Slytherin."

"Watch it, Weasley," Malfoy snarled, "I didn't need to come and find anyone."

"So where is she?"

"Neither of them would tell me."

"Well, let's see if they'll answer to me?" Ron asked, pushing past Malfoy to get to the other two.

"They like you less than I do," Malfoy said and Ron stopped. "Crabb's dead."

Ron turned back to Malfoy, trying to look as menacing as possible to his enemy. "Any other useful information you got?"

Malfoy shook his head. "She left the exam before me, but Pansy left after me. I didn't see Granger on my way to the basement. Sorry." Ron had the concern that Malfoy was going to end that sentence with 'mate' and he would have to punch the snivelling blonde for that. Ron turned to head off and realised that he was not actually sure where the exam had taken place and therefore what route Hermione would have taken. He made a move to return to the dining hall and ask Neville, but he stopped when he saw Malfoy still standing there. "I can show you where we sat the exam," he offered and Ron eyed him suspiciously. "The castle's different since the re-build."

"This better not be a trick or I'll punch you again," Ron warned, accepting the offer from his Slytherin nemesis. He made sure to stay a step behind Malfoy, his guard up and hand near to his wand pocket. "How long's Parkinson been gunning for Hermione?"

Malfoy glanced around. "Were you here on the first day?" he asked sarcastically.

"But when did it elevate to the bullying crap of this year? For someone who hates Muggles so badly, Parkinson and the rest have been doing a good job of acting like them."

"I don't know," Malfoy answered. "I haven't exactly spent much time with any of my fellow classmates this year."

"I've noticed you sitting at the first year end of the Slytherin table. I think the only person I've seen speaking to you is that Greengrass girl. Not liked by your own house or the others, aint that a bit of justice," Ron smiled and Malfoy stopped abruptly in the corridor.

Malfoy turned to Ron and squared up to him, attempting to reach the same height and failing spectacularly. "Do you want my help, Weasley? At least I've been man enough to do something with my life, rather than just sticking with my family and working in a shop that's riding on the coat-tails of war and death. What too scared to even try school without Harry?"

"You snivelling, bastard," Ron spat. "You ever decide on a side during the war because at least me and my parents chose one and stayed loyal. We never swapped to whichever was winning and looked the better option."

"Not that it's any of your business, but we didn't '_swap_' because we were on the losing side. I still think blood purity is important and respect Slytherin values."

"You aiming for another punch?" Ron argued back.

"Gladly seeing as this time I can punch you back!"

"Like to see you try," Ron laughed.

"Weasley, you're-" Ron silenced Malfoy with a hand near his face.

"Ssh," he commanded. "Can you hear that?" Malfoy's ears pricked up as they both listened intently. Neither of them could hear anything, or whatever Ron had heard had stopped making noise. Both men looked around them, scanning the surroundings to see if there was anything that could have made a noise. "What's that?" Ron asked as he pointed to something on the floor just off a side corridor. Carefully, they both approached the deserted, abandoned corridor and Ron could easily see the damage that existed further down.

"Not all of the castle's been rebuilt since the battle," Malfoy said very quietly.

"Yeah, well, not all damage can be healed within a year," Ron remarked, bending down and looking at the item which had caught his attention. "It's Hermione's wand," Ron stated as he picked it up. He could not bear to think how she ended up in a dangerous, unpopulated part of the castle without her wand and if her wand was here on the floor, Ron could only question where Hermione was. He knew that she would not go anywhere without her wand and that it was not an easy task to disarm her. Ron stood back up and shouted, "Hermione!" They both headed off down opposite sides of the corridor, Ron continuing to shout for her whilst Malfoy remained quiet. Ron doubted that Hermione would answer if she suspected Malfoy was there; he barely trusted the snake.

Then, Malfoy called over to Ron, "Weasley, over here." Ron quickly moved over to where Malfoy was leaning slightly forward and followed his eyes. There was a hole in the floor leading directly down to the floor below. Sitting on the rubble was Hermione. "Granger," Malfoy greeted.

"Malfoy, what are you… Ron!" she said as soon as she saw him. "Thank goodness, you found me. I can't find my wand. Can you help me out of here?" she requested.

"Course I can," he smiled. Ron got his wand out and pointed it towards Hermione. "_Wingardium_ _Leviosa_," he said and Hermione started levitating up towards the floor opening. Ron manoeuvred his wand to allow her to avoid the edges of the floor and as she became level with the floor, Malfoy reached out and helped her to sit on the floor as Ron lowered his wand. "Hermione," he said crouching by her side. "What happened? Are you alright?"

She switched from looking confused at Malfoy to looking relieved at Ron. "I'm okay. I think I twisted my ankle though."

"We'll get someone to look at it," he promised before repeating, "What happened?"

She looked warily at Malfoy. "What's he doing here?"

Ron paused, looking at him then back at Hermione. "He, uh, he told me he thought something'd been done to you. He helped me find you."

"Oh," Hermione whispered. She turned to Malfoy. "Thank you."

"No problem. If you two are okay…" Malfoy looked uncomfortable and very eager to leave the Gryffindors alone.

Ron stood back up, facing Malfoy. "Yeah, thanks." Malfoy nodded and quickly began walking away. Ron looked down at Hermione, smiling and holding out her wand. "You dropped this."

She happily took it from him. "Thank you. I didn't realise until I was down there."

He helped her to her feet, supporting her on the side of her bruised ankle. "Did Parkinson hurt you?"

"I might have a few bruises on my shoulders. And on my back and bum where I landed." They both smiled. "Nothing that a nice hot bath at your place won't cure."

"My place?" he questioned. "Honey, for the next two weeks, it's our place." She grinned at him and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Seriously though, don't you want to spend the night here and celebrate finishing?"

She shook her head. "I want to go home. With you."

He paused in their walking and held her in front of him, looking her in the eye. "What about after the two weeks?" he asked. He knew that might not be the best time to bring up the topic, but they did need to discuss their future.

"Then I start my work placement at the Ministry and you have to make a decision." He nodded at her. "I'll support you whatever you pick," she said. "I won't think badly of you or less of you for either option. It's your choice." He nodded again and then kissed her, ignoring the fact that there were younger students nearby. At that moment he did not care that there were students nearby, or that people were watching them kissing. He did not care what happened in two weeks' time, or at any other point in time. All that he cared about at that moment was that he and Hermione had their entire future ahead of them and for the first time in a long time, he was truly happy. Their first year apart was over and they had the rest of forever together.

**The End**

_I've left Ron's future open-ended because of the mixed information from JK regarding whether he trained as an Auror or works with George. I also thought it fitting that the final magic I wrote in this was the first magic she taught him. For anyone who questions the Malfoy and Parkinson parts, I tried to follow JK's words in that, she stated that Pansy was not a nice person and never would be, whilst in the epilogue of Deathly Hallows, Harry and Malfoy are civil to each other. As for more in the First series, I may have written a couple which may be appearing at some point. Anything else in this series will be more one shots and not have a running plot. I hope you enjoyed it, and you can let me now if you would like :)_


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